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Hannah Patrick
Hannah Patrick is the founder of House of Scandal, who created a collection of home scents with an edge. It’s packaging embodies simplicity, sensuality and luxury, whilst each product in the collection tells its own story, with its unique name.
Mastering home fragrance is an art-form, with its collection having an affinity with female empowerment.
In December 2016, she tried her hand at making candles and chocolate truffles from her kitchen, as an affordable Christmas gift alternative. Hannah, who was then only a self-taught candle maker (learning from YouTube and research via Google), laughs as she recalls, “The chocolate truffles didn’t turn out as nicely, but the candles went down really well.”
House of Scandal was born the following year in 2017, with Hannah longing for new innovative ideas outside of the traditional collections and ranges she had come across. “I wanted us to have an edge in comparison to other brands. I wanted to cause a scandal.”
July 2020, saw the company undergo a rebrand which meant scaling its existing brand identity and pivoting from the market stalls which had developed for the business, an organic, loyal customer base. She knew it was time for her brand to take its next steps towards e-commerce.
House of Scandal, whose moniker derives from a play on the word ‘candle’, can be purchased from B Corp, ethical retailer Wolf and Badger, known for its platform of independent designers.
A House of Scandal favourite is the Fuckboy Repellent. “It turned into something bigger than I expected,” she admits. “All of my candle collections are inspirations from conversations I’ve had with my friends. Now, it’s turned into something else, where if the product sells out, I get emails from people saying ‘when is this coming back? This happened to me and I need to get some of this now.’ We get really detailed comments on our posts. It has connected to our customers and not just with myself, but together where they exchange stories and become united. It was a ‘jokey’ collection, but it’s become empowering.
Hannah’s personal favourite is Trophy Wife, one of the brand’s first pieces in the collection. “Actually, I didn’t want to start the company without having that container. Originally, the supplier wouldn’t ship it to the UK and I had to do a lot of persuading.” The scent combines some of her favourite things including Jasmine and Ginger. “It just smells amazing.”
Although entrepreneurship ran in her family, Hannah originally had no plans of becoming an entrepreneur herself. Hannah had always thought she would pursue a career in acting, having attended drama school. “The funny thing is (she laughs) my mum is very business-minded and my dad is very creative, I am very similar to my dad as business was not my forte but I have always been creative. I've had to learn from a lot of mistakes; especially in my first year of doing House of Scandal to make sure my business continues to evolve profitably".
Hannah believes one of the most important qualities to have in business is consistency. “You can’t start something and expect it to take off in a year. It might take time, but as long as you’re consistent with what you’re putting into it, that’s the main thing.”
Shop the House of Scandal collection now www.houseofscandal.co.uk