Creativity to ensure that each of her products is unique and exclusive? This is Ilse Charoux?s motto. For Christmas and New Year, your tables will have a special cachet thanks to her original candles. Moreover, they will titillate your nostrils with their subtle scent of vanilla, frangipani or ?cinnamon and orange? specially made for this period. ?Because, in Belgium, these perfumes are particularly used around Christmas. I try to bring a little touch of my own country here!?

Golden and silver cakes, bamboos with special Christmas designs, angels? These are some of the candles still available at the workshop after her latest exhibition. But Ilse can also work to specific orders. ?The aim is not to make a lot of money out of one client and then lose him/her because he/she can find the same product elsewhere. I try to surprise them ? each time they find something different and will always come back to see new sorts of candles I have made.? Sometimes, she can?t sleep because she?s afraid at not finding any new ideas. But, then, they come naturally? Often during the night when it?s quiet everywhere.

This active lady came to Mauritius as a professional chocolate maker. As a Belgian, she must have had a real talent in the field. But she had to give up the idea since it was too hard to find the raw materials in Mauritius and importing them would have been costly and complicated.

Presents for friends and relatives

Then, life took its course. Ilse got married and started her family. But this active lady has always been very fond of creative work. The fact that she has a diploma from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts is no coincidence. ?I like art, especially home interior design!?

So, one morning, she and her husband began to experiment with four different candle ?moulds? ?We found them so beautiful ? obviously we would find them beautiful as we were the ones to make them! ? that my husband advised me to do it to earn a living!? Why not? The four candles multiplied and ended up as a small workshop and a brand new company: ?Exotic candles?.

Her main customers are undoubtedly hotels but she also makes orders for individuals. ?Candles are not hard to make ? you have the basic method and you just have to add your own touch to make them different and attrctive ? but it?s quite a long process. So, of course, it?s much more profitable to do them for hotels as they order hundreds at once. Individuals come to buy a small quantity but it?s always a pleasure to see that they enjoy the products. Moreover, once they are familiar with my work most of them come regularly to see the new products?? Because prices remain affordable: from Rs 95 for the smallest to Rs 375 for candles, which take longer to make.

Either for business presents, presents for friends or for your own house, just call to see if Ilse is there and you can go and see what she has in her little workshop? ?I like the idea that my house is always open for people, who?d like to see my work!?