THE CANDLE THAT TAKES YOU TO CHAD, CRADLE OF HUMANKIND In 2001, a team of researchers in northern Chad unearthed the remains of Toumaï, which means “hope of life” in my mother tongue, Dazaga. He is the oldest known ancestor of human lineage who is believed to have lived seven million years ago. This extraordinary discovery makes Chad the cradle of humanity. Not far from where Toumaï was found, in the fabulous Ennedi Plateau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies another one-of-a-kind location: the magnificent prehistoric petroglyphs and rock art paintings that tell the very rich history, tales and traditions of the inhabitants of Chad, their daily lives, as well as highly evolved beauty and self-care rituals. Growing up, I learned from my mother, my grandmother and my great-grandmother an extraordinary number of these rituals and the secrets of making incenses and perfumes with ancestral, age-old recipes and noble, rare and fine raw materials such as Ethiopian rose, Indian sandalwood, Sudanese cloves, Somalian myrrh, Egyptian jasmine and Chadian Chébé. For the very first time, after 18 months of research and development and meticulous work with expert chandlers in France, I am delighted to have captured and share with you these intoxicating scents that have surrounded me since my earliest childhood, as they did for countless generations of ancestors before us, in a vegan and sustainable candle inviting you to join me in the heartland of our common origins. Our proprietary plant-based wax has been formulated without palm oil, soy or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). It is made from certified fair-trade African shea butter. By using shea butter as the base of our wax, we help promote the sustainability and competitiveness of the shea butter industry in the world, support biodiversity protection, improve the livelihoods and empower the African rural women who collect and process the shea nuts using traditional know-how. The fragrance of our candle, made with only the finest ingredients, is clean and natural, free of phthalates and other toxins. Recycled and infinitely recyclable, the glass jar housing our candle is decorated with some of the original rock art paintings from Ennedi. The paper in our packaging comes from well-managed forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council(FSC). 2% of the proceeds from each candle sold contributes to conservation projects in Chad with African Parks Network. In the welcoming warmth of the ancestral land, as if dining under the intimate light of a nomadic tent, inhale the intoxicating aromas of spices, leather and vapors of precious woods: Top - Cumin. Elemi. Clove. Saffron. Chébé / Heart - Olibanum. Leather. Rose. Jasmine. Oud / Base - Myrrh. Patchouli. Cedar. Sandalwood. And exhale. A one-way ticket. Welcome to Chad. Welcome home.