Business

CREATIVE LONDON: Thabang “Thabi” Motsei

This week we caught up with Thabang “Thabi” Motsei, the founder and creative director of home fragrance brand LAGŌM – The Good Balance. 

CAN YOU TELL OUR READERS WHO HAVEN’T HEARD OF LAGOM-The Good Balance, A BIT MORE ABOUT THE BRAND AND HOW YOU STARTED?  

Growing up I always looked forward to visiting my grandmother where candles, flowers and herbs were a big part of her rituals and everyday use. I have always loved candles especially how they make a home smell (like telling a story with scent and light) and how they transform the ambience of a space to feeling cosy and welcoming. I began making scented candles for myself (after being diagnosed with a chronic immune disease) and became passionate about understanding the ingredients that were being used in candles which we breathe. With a continued interest in aromatherapy and natural ingredients I began to create a candle I would be proud to share with loved ones and now with you. 

LAGŌM – The Good Balance was born, with a soulful collection of natural scented candles. Our range now includes our ŌM-Balance of Lavender + Ylang Ylang ( a tale of two classics), ŌM- Lift of Geranium + Grapefruit (our bestseller – citrus and wild flowers) and ŌM-Comfort of Cedarwood + Amber, which our customers have dubbed the romantic candle with its earthy tones.

Our scent blends are designed, carefully curated and thoughtfully mixed, in small fresh batches to ensure quality and attention to detail. We care about the environment and have made sure our packaging is sustainable and recyclable.

THE NAME IS SWEDISH IF WE’RE CORRECT? WHAT EXACTLY DOES IT MEAN?

Arising from the Swedish word Lagom – meaning “not too much, not too little, just enough”, essentially the Goldilocks principle. We use the tag line “the good balance” for our brand which explains the word and the use of our ingredients in our scents “not too much-not too little just enough.  We then broke down the word LAG-ŌM into two, we found that the word ŌM, separately, is a mantra, and/or vibration, that is traditionally chanted in Hinduism, in meditation and at the beginning and end of a yoga session. 

The mantra is considered to have high spiritual and creative powers when recited.  We wanted our first collection to act as a catalyst in finding your own ŌM, a healthy natural vibration. Whether seeking a little ŌMBalance, ŌMComfort, ŌMPure or a natural ŌMLift and discovering scent with our new soy melts.

WHERE AROUND LONDON CAN WE EXPECT TO PICK SOME OF THESE LOVELY SCENTS UP?

You can now find us at at our pop-up at the new Wembley Park Market.  We’re so excited to spend summer in London as our studio is based in St Leonards On-Sea, Hastings.

We’ve always known that the best way for you to understand our brand and ethos is by talking to us, seeing and smelling our products and getting you excited about being a champion of the good balance living.

Wembley Park Market is a community of independent makers, artisans and established brands in Wembley Park. The traditional street market is timeless, while the modern one goes further by offering a curated space for new brands to experience running their own retail space, which essentially is our own pop up shops under one roof!.

We’re open Tue -Sat 11am-19pm & Sundays 11am – 17pm. You can find me there with our naturally scented products and plants.

WE’VE ALSO SEEN THAT YOU RUN WORKSHOPS, CAN YOU TELL US WHAT THESE WORKSHOPS ENTAIL?

We kicked off the first of our Wednesday summer workshops on the 31st July at our Wembley park Market pop-up, which was a big hit that we’ve added more dates. We hope to encourage others to come along, discover and create something new this summer, with us. 

Our guests get to learn the basics of candle-making, the benefits of plant-based candles, open up their sense of smell with a selection of essential oils & their healing properties and hopefully be inspired by our brands story of living, creating and cultivating the good balance of LAGŌM. 

They’ll also get to blend their very own soy wax candle and infuse it with one of our summer botanical blends. During the workshop, they’ll even get to pour their own 170ml soy wax candle to enjoy.

 *The cost of the workshop is £50 and inclusive of all materials, P+P and the finished scented soy wax candle in 170ml worth £35 in our beautiful amber glass jars. 

WHAT IS THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN? 

You have to enjoy the process that comes with running a business not only the creative side! Most of us want to turn our hobbies into careers, we often neglect the business side of turning those hobbies into our businesses. An entrepreneur’s every day is made up of juggling different elements including creating. You have admin, marketing, content creation, packaging, vendor sourcing, testing, feedback and getting your product out to your customer. Whether it’s applying to be at markets or pop up or finding stockists. That’s the process and it’s often the least exciting part when running a business. Enjoying that and the creation process is a well-deserved treat. 

Equally important is to never compare yourself to others. Your business will have its own pace and its intricacies. It’s best to remember it’s not a sprint it’s a marathon. Creating anything takes time and patience. 

WHAT WOULD YOUR PERFECT LAZY SUNDAY IN LONDON LOOK LIKE?

A visit to Colombia Road Flower Market to pick some greenery. Plants make me happy and just like candles you can never have enough. Brunch at St Johns at Spitafields Market with my favourite person in the world, my husband. Finish it off with a lazy afternoon with friends at any of the local parks.

Website: https://www.wearelagom.com 

Wembley Park Market: https://www.wembleypark.com/wembley-park-market/