From her start as New Zealand’s only Ecoya salesperson, to now leading a team as CEO, Claire Barnes reflects on the milestone moments that decorate the home fragrance brand’s 20-year history.
There’s a metres-long artwork by Wellington-based artist Siân Torrington hanging in the foyer, but Ecoya CEO Claire Barnes is
The piece was originally commissioned by Claire and her husband, Matt, a decade ago because the one they had first found in Sanderson Contemporary Art’s gallery didn’t fit their wall.
It’s followed them to “a whole bunch of houses” over the years and has always magically found a perfectly sized wall to hang from.
“I don’t know the meaning of it, but what I love about it is how imperfect it is. There’s pencil, there’s crayon, there’s pastel, there’s paint — it’s not really of anything and yet it’s beautiful,” she says.
“You can always find something new to see.”
Obscurity tends to be a common theme when it comes to the artwork Claire’s collected over the years, hung proudly throughout Claire’s sun-soaked Remuera home, which she and Matt share with children Hugo, 7, and Willow, 5.
Like the spheroid print hanging in a black box frame in the living room.
Upon closer inspection, it’s a Hermès scarf Claire collected during one of her trips to Sydney (she used to travel there every second week for four years pre-children). She’s never worn it.
“When I bought that scarf, I immediately thought it would look really cool in a frame. I’ve never actually worn it. I love it because it doesn’t look like a scarf,” she says.
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Advertise with NZME.Diagonally opposite Torrington’s work is a charcoal portrait of a skull by Liam Gerrard which is made up of tiny, highly detailed hydrangeas — Claire’s favourite flower.
“I love hydrangeas because they remind me of my grandmother,” she says.
Upstairs, there’s a crochet flower installation by Japanese artist Wendy Kawabata, screen prints by Australian artist Caroline Taylor, plus a recent piece of Hugo’s artwork that Claire took to the framer and hung in a black box frame in his room.
“I am really interested in art, probably more classic art that lasts. I’m a real ‘buy once’ person, I don’t like cheap junk — I’d rather buy one good thing and do without the rest until I can have that proper piece,” she says.
From her start as New Zealand’s only Ecoya salesperson, to now leading a team of 32 as the brand’s CEO, Claire is gearing up for its 20-year celebrations, which kick off at the end of August. Starting with a new (old) collection, of course.
“What felt most natural was to bring back the old favourites. We’re revisiting our most-loved fragrances that have popped up throughout the years, and some of our nostalgic designs,” she says.
The aptly titled “Greatest Hits” collection includes the Australasian fragrance house’s Everyday Tin, an Ecoya classic since 2004.
“When I first started with Ecoya 15 years ago, I drove around with a cardboard box of candles and somehow had to make a whole lot of sales,” she says.
“One of those key products I was selling was the Everyday Tin. I still have customers today that tell me about the tins they’ve kept for all this time.”
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Advertise with NZME.Along the same vein is the return of its Soy Wax Melts and Soy Melt Lantern, reimagined in indelible scents including Kowhai & Cedarwood from 2013, Bamboo & White Lily from 2009 and a scent formerly known as Sweet Fruits & Champagne but a cease and desist letter from the winemaking region put a stop to that.
“We were masters of soy melts,” Claire reflects. “They’re amazing for the length of time they can throw fragrance for. We thought it would be great to bring them back with a beautiful burner to go with it.”
The limited-edition collection is housed in packaging that pays homage to the brand’s original lotus flower logo and fishnet design, with tongue-in-cheek descriptions penned by consumer brand and communications manager Kate Smith.
Two decades ago, Claire says the home fragrance category didn’t really exist. She recalls joining the team and hearing people shriek in horror over Ecoya’s $50 price tag.
But like all entrepreneurial success stories, Ecoya stayed the course and the customers came flocking — attracted by its suite of contemporary scents which draw inspiration from across Australasia.
“There’s been a massive movement towards people enjoying home fragrance and discovering how vital it is to their space,” Claire says.
“Just like a personal fragrance that you wear on your body as part of your outfit, having fragrance in your home is just as important.”
What began as a natural soy wax candle collection quickly spilled over into other categories, including body care, kitchen and laundry collections, as well as car and plug-in diffusers to scent every facet of someone’s life.
Today, Ecoya products are available in more than 1400 department stores globally, with one Ecoya candle sold every 90 seconds. It’s especially popular in the Scandinavian market, which Claire says makes her feel proud as the region is best known for its eye for design and appreciation for quality.
Stories of customers growing to live with (and love) home fragrance has stuck with Claire, including the man whose wife had burnt French Pear throughout their home for over a decade. After she passed, he continued to buy and burn French Pear because it was her.
Another fan approached Claire recently to share how much he loves Guava & Lychee (the brand’s best-selling scent globally).
“There are plenty of fragrances like that or Lotus Flower that you think are quite feminine, but lots of males love them,” Claire says, adding there’s a saying in the office that women buy the candles, but it’s the men who burn them.
“Guys love that homely kind of feeling — they find it calming to be around those sorts of scents, because it brings a feminine energy to a room.”
In her own home, Claire scents her space with a handful of treasured favourites.
From the limited-edition Greatest Hits collection, that’s Kowhai & Cedarwood, which has been remastered from the 2013 original to appeal to both Australian and New Zealand fans.
“It’s so complex — I’m a real bush baby, I love that natural environment. I love the natural elements this scent brings out,” she says.
French Pear is another time-honoured pick, which Claire says has been a favourite since she began with the brand. “It’s so homely, there’s no one that doesn’t like French Pear. It’s so warming and it just speaks home to me,” she says.
On her bedside, Claire is test-driving one of Ecoya’s Christmas newbies a few months early: Pear & Brandy. It’s been in the works for more than a year, but Claire says she loves to revisit scents right before they launch.
“I always wake up in the night and think: ‘I can smell that diffuser’. It smells so beautiful and can be used all year round, not just at Christmas,” she says.
Ecoya’s hybrid working environment means you’ll most likely find Claire working remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays from her Wilson & Dorset shaggy bean bag, which sits in the sunniest spot in the house in front of the fireplace.
Or she’ll sit facing the window at the dining room table, a spot she says she finds she’s most productive as in-office days tend to be overrun with chatter.
“It’s good to have those days where you can actually concentrate and get stuff done, as our office is quite a lot of fun. Our culture and team environment are unique: collaborative, fluid and fast-moving. I love going to work for the chat,” she says.
“[At home] I work from my beanbag in the sun. I’m really looking forward to summer when I can sit outside on the sofa and work from the garden.”
A self-confessed nature lover, Claire says her children took great delight in the sprawling vines and shrubs that line a cobbled path in the backyard when they moved back into the city a year ago, after selling their new build in Karaka.
Her love of the environment spills over into her work life, with Claire currently working on Ecoya’s BCorp accreditation. While they’re not there yet, she says the team is in the process of redefining what it means to be a sustainable business — which goes far beyond being paraffin-free.
“We’re on a journey to get better and better. We’re using the BCorp framework to drill down into all areas of our business, not just from a sustainability perspective with our packaging, but how we can treat our staff better, ensure our supply chain is cleaner, and that the company has the right structure in place,” she says.
“It’s been a really meaningful process for us, and while we haven’t been certified yet, hopefully in the near future we will be.”
This is just one segment of the business that points to Claire’s tenacity for success. She’s quick to recognise that consumers are always evolving and so the brand should be, too.
“A brand that is tried and true and never changes would never be the right fit for me personally. Ecoya is constantly evolving. I spend a lot of my time in the business on what’s next — to know what the consumer wants before they know they want it,” she says.
“I always recite this saying in the office: ‘When Henry Ford invented the Model T, people didn’t know they wanted a car, they wanted a faster horse’. Sometimes we have ideas that are outrageous but we’re not trying to make a faster horse, we’re trying to make a car.”
This approach sees Claire work up to a year in advance. Mentally, she’s already in 2025.
By the time you read this, Claire would have sniffed out 100 fragrances in a meeting that was scheduled for the day after our interview.
It’s a skill she’s finely honed after all these years, but never tires of — especially when she’s discovered a hack for freshening up the senses in between whiffs.
“You just smell your own skin. As you practice more and your nose gets better, you build up a fragrance memory. I feel like every time I smell something two or three times, I can immediately point it back to a scent from the archives,” she says.
“Scent has the power to take you back to those moments in time.”
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