Michael Beatt
Make Sense?
We meet Michael Beatt from Hunter Jones, homewares & lifestyle store in the centre of Rye.
What set you on the path of doing what you do?
Mikey. Mikey. I grew up in Scotland and after school, I did an entry magazine publishing and media studies course. It should have gone on to last a few years but the quality of the course was pretty questionable, so I decided to leave after the first year so I could get a job and leave home. Soon after that I ended up in Lake Como in Italy for eight months, where I admittedly didn’t do much, before returning to the UK and moving to London.
I worked for a natural skincare brand for two and a half years and moved between Harvey Nichols and Harrods stores. I was looking after the brand Ole Henriksen within those two places. A brand next to ours in Harrods called Roja Dove perfumes. They had a room that you could only get into if you were prepared to pay thousands of pounds for your own bespoke fragrance. Bottles were lining all the walls; it was amazing, so luxurious. It was all by appointment; if no one was around I’d have a peep.
Around this time, I started buying more niche fragrances and candles, moving away from the high street stuff; this was just for myself; I hadn’t begun to think about creating my own. I had no money at that age, but I was still finding £40 for a Diptyque candle every few months.
My partner Michael painted furniture, we sold it online, and delivered it in and around London, in our van that we called Whitney, she only came to life when you rocked her. We got sick of living in London, so we relocated to Rye in 2010 and set up Hunter Jones in Strand Quay to sell that furniture. I was trying to find a way to raise what we were offering. It was a communal space; we painted our area of the building white, put a sign up on the wall and rugs down. And that’s when I started making candles; it was something I could afford to do and would differentiate us from the other businesses selling just furniture.
On a drive up to Scotland for Christmas, Michael asked, what are we going to do next year? I wanted our place to stop sharing with other businesses. I’d had enough of the old furniture and everything that goes along with fixing it up and delivering it. So I decided I wanted to do something different. We’d already started selling rugs, cushions and candles, so we stopped selling the furniture. Ceramics is another thing I’m really into, so that was something I wanted to bring into the shop.
How did you learn how to make candles?
Mikey. Internet research, I just spent time on Google trying to work it out; this is kind of how I do everything. Try to soak up as much information as possible. It was the same with the diffusers that I make. There are many ways to make them, ways to make them last a year, and ways where it’ll just evaporate in two weeks if you don’t do it properly.
We’ve moved a few times; we started at Strand Quay, then moved to where Sailors of Rye (in RyeZine issue 1) are now, on Needles Passage. Then to the building where Café Petit is now, on Cinque Ports Street and Market Road four years ago.
You have mentioned candles and diffusers; how do you develop and decide on your fragrances?
Mikey. In hindsight, I would have liked to have brought out a range of fragrances. Most brands create a set; they’ll have a smokey one, citrus, a floral and a green kind of fruity one. I started with my first one and planned to add more to build my range; I should probably have ten by now; I have three–quality, not quantity.
The first one I called Dalt Vila, which means the upper city, translated from Catalan or Spanish; and is the old downtown of the island. I had an idea about a fragrance that would smell like when you’re on holiday, and you go out, and it’s still warm, everyone’s fresh from the shower, with their favourite fragrance on, you can still smell a bit of sun cream. One of my favourite things is going on holiday with friends and going out for dinner, and Ibiza old town is my favourite place to go out for dinner. So it has a smokey scent, sandalwood, cedar, coconut for the kind of sun cream element, amongst other things.
Another one that I make for the shop and under a different name for Tillingham (in RyeZine issue 1), it’s called Mkuze after a fig tree forest in South Africa. The smell of the figs is incredible; it is more like a leaf than a fruit. If it’s warm, the scent of a fig leaf is quite unusual. So it has fig, tomato fruit fragrance more so than the vine, cedarwood that is a lovely base; it smells a little like a greenhouse. That is probably the best seller, people seem to love tomato.
And the third one is called Barú, after a park in Japan, where a very rare orchid grows. So one of the ingredients is an orchid. It is floral, but it’s also woody musky, and there is a touch of incense.
“You build up a fragrance with base, middle and top notes - I start with a base like musk, incense, leather, and add the lighter notes to create a rounded scent”
What is your process for making a fragrance?
Mikey. I should say I’m not a perfumer; you would need to have a chemistry degree to be a proper perfumer; you’ve got to go to a school and study. I have a big box of bottles; I put a few drops of this and a few drops of that. It is trial and error, and I write down everything that I’ve added. Sometimes fragrances end up going down the sinks when I make a mistake. Every time I create a new batch, I might tinker with the recipe a tiny bit. I’m sure it smells the same to anyone else, but I improve it every time I make a new batch.
I start by creating a diffuser because it’s instant. To make a batch of candles is a big job. Usually, if something smells good in the diffuser, it smells incredible as a candle. Because when you warm up a fragrance, they improve, especially the woody or resinous smells, but not so much for the fruit-scented candles.
And then there are room sprays. The base in a room spray is much lighter; obviously, it has to hang and glide through the air. The liquid that goes into a diffuser is thicker, and you want it to evaporate slowly.
In a small town like Rye, people accept eccentricities and the quirkiness of independent shops. Where as you might feel the need to do things in a polished corporate manner in a city shop. Living in a small community, the commute to work is taken out of your day, so it frees up some time. So many people have hobbies that often turn into a second job. Also, there are opportunities for collaborations. First, Karen from Tillingham asked if I’d make something for them, and more recently, Katie from the George in Rye. So we’ve talked about options and tried some variations for a candle and diffuser. It contains something called orris, which comes from irrs, and it smells like the ground after rainfall.
I suppose I’m more interested in perfume ingredients. So when I’m thinking about creating a new candle, I’m not necessarily looking at candle fragrances; I am thinking of fine fragrances. So a scent that you wear contains synthetic and essential oils. The mixture gives you different notes and longevity. Many people would believe synthetic ingredients are a negative, but it’s typically made up of plant extracts, so a tomato note will not be an essential oil. Instead, it is a mix of other fragrances that smell like a tomato.
Many people want to find a fragrance that will last all day, but only a few notes or ingredients will do that. By the end of the day, many scents smell the same because it’s the same note that gives those fragrances longevity. If it lasts five or six, you get a better quality fragrance, and you can reapply it.
Hunter Jones - 3 Market Road, Rye TN31 7JA
hunterjonesstore.co.uk
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