Most candle companies start with a scent.
Wayward starts with a destination.
A dusty Mexican cantina. A bustling Vietnamese street scented with lemongrass and spices. A Parisian bedroom filled with powder and roses.
Those places became the foundation of a simple idea: what if a candle could take you somewhere else?
It started while I was browsing candles for a gift. Surrounded by Fresh Linen, Vanilla, Sandalwood and countless sweet florals, it became obvious how repetitive the category had become.
Everything smelled pleasant.
Very little smelled memorable.
Travelling had shown me a different side of fragrance. Not scents designed by committee, but the ones that define a place — local drinks, market spices, dusty roads, unfamiliar plants. They linger long after a trip ends.
I started Wayward to capture those.
Every candle begins with a destination rather than a fragrance. From there I blend, test and refine until the atmosphere feels right. Some take around ten iterations before they earn a place in the collection. A few never make it at all.
The scent is only half of it. I design the artwork for every destination in a vintage etching style, so the tin carries the place as well as the fragrance.
I'm Jason, and I make these in my studio in Woolsery, Devon — about five miles from Westward Ho!, the only town in Britain with an exclamation mark, and the beach I surf at.
Every candle is poured by hand, stamped, labelled, packed and posted by me. There's no warehouse. If your order arrives, I stamp the tin, I put it in the box.
The goal has never been to make another candle. It's to create atmosphere, spark curiosity and start conversations. To turn an ordinary room into somewhere far more interesting.
For anyone tired of generic candle scents, Wayward offers something different:
A passport-free journey through scent.
