August 21, 2023 |
Where the word ‘homework’ tends to elicit reluctance, annoyance and excessive procrastination, the London-based lifestyle brand of the same name evokes a much more tranquil, welcome response. Founded by Stephanie Hannington-Suen alongside her husband and “silent business partner” Ross, Homework is the sensory studio specialising in candles, soaps, bath soaks and essential oil blends rooted in the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and the natural, earthy properties of scent. A “modern ode to ancient Chinese philosophy”, whether that’s in the form of aromatic teas and soaps or fragrance candles inspired by antiquated rituals, Homework sets out to balance the home.
Hannington-Suen is an aromachologist, but despite a penchant for essential oils and scents, her background isn’t actually in wellness. Rather, Hannington-Suen is a hand of graphic design. Having worked in design studios across the capital for over 13 years before the onslaught of the pandemic, she was starting to burn out and reach her boiling point: the long hours and challenging clients, mixed with the blurring of boundaries between work and home catalysed by Covid, saw her grow increasingly ennuied. “[I was] working too much, but I am the kind of person that loves to relax,” she laughs. Overwhelmed and dissatisfied with the core beliefs and aesthetics of brands she worked for, she decided to go it alone and create a company for herself that homed in on her personal beliefs and lifelong fascination with skincare.
As many stories go, Homework began with a search for balance: especially between home and work life, the opposing forces of yin and yang. Hannington-Suen was craving something that combined her love of design, community and the healing power of nature. While the words ‘home’ and ‘work’ had always resonated in two opposing milieux, their joining together felt like the yin and yang she needed, and merged to create its name: Homework.
That fascination with skincare comes from her family. Immigrating to Manchester in the 80s, Hannington-Suen’s parents ran a TCM practice. “My father ran the herbal medicine side, putting [remedies] together, and my mum would write the prescriptions. It was very much a family business, so at weekends I would help out with creating prescriptions for clients,” she recalls. “It was also in my grandma’s life. She lived in the mountains of Tai Po, Hong Kong, and would pick herbs there to distil herself and create her own remedies. My dad is still trying to hunt down these herbs whenever we go back.” TCM isn’t about finding a quick fix, but searching for the root of the issue and trying to balance the energies and elements of the entire body. Hannington-Suen explains, “The way I approach it is actually viewing it as a way of living harmoniously with the world, the environment and the seasons – drawing upon the grounded and tangible elements of nature, from the calm trickle of water to the warmth of the sun.”
What began as a casual and familial hobby, eventually became a business born out of Covid boredom and an antidote to the interiors obsession that emerged from the casualties of its restrictions. “People were spending more time at home and were trying to make [those spaces] more comfortable and cosy, so our business grew organically,” she recalls. “I see Homework as an interpretation of what my parents did.”
In June, Hannington-Suen unleashed Homework 2.0, a massive rebrand of its products, packaging and overall narrative. “When we first started it, Homework was very much just a hobby – testing the waters and seeing what we were about. But over the past three and a half years as we progressed, we have learnt quite a lot and it has become about my family.” Hannington-Suen noticed that her clientele were more interested in the Homework products with a story to tell, so in addition to reformulating, improving bestsellers and reinvigorating packaging, she set out to amplify those stories with “greater effect”.
For example, Homework’s candles are now housed in smokey glass vessels inspired by the “grainy, warm hued” family photographs of Hannington-Suen’s parents when they first came to the UK in 1984. “I love going through old family albums, from when they first moved over,” she notes. That nostalgic 30mm tone calls to mind optimistic images of the couple as they were beginning a new life in a distant land and the containers can be reused long after their flames have fizzled out, for storage or decoration. If your space is too cluttered to keep it, Homework also offers an in-house recycling service.
Delving into the details, Homework’s new labels – which feature a landscape photo and bold sanskrit type – are arranged to interpret and portray Hannington-Suen’s Chinese heritage in a “more modern way”. “I remember watching these movies/TV shows with my mum growing up and they always had the subtitles at the bottom, so that’s the typography. And I really liked the idea of creating a ‘screen’ into the world of each fragrance, so that’s how we came up with the idea of having an image that goes alongside the candles; it’s like a window into that world.”
Each of the fragrances are based on, and named for, the five elements found in Traditional Chinese Medicine: Earth, Wood, Water, Metal, Fire. Earth embodies stability and allows you to feel grounded through top notes of fir, middle rose, cardamom, black pepper and more and a body built from musk, Chinese cedar and patchouli. Wood symbolises growth through whiffs of pine, hinoki, cypress, cedar and oakmoss amongst other woody scents, and the act of moving towards something, toward clarity, and of constant renewal. Water is wisdom: “the calm ebb and the free flow, giving us time to pause, collect ourselves and gather strength, revealing our capacity to adapt.” Think of Metal as strength: symbolising the essence of life and its value, it helps us to feel certain in our choices, see past ourselves and let go. Fire is Homework’s bestseller: an embodiment of warmth, it’s something that “welcomes us in, hums with emotion and connects us to our past, helping us find our passion and joy, be creative and the energy to take action”. Reimagined from the brand’s Basian candle, top notes of blood orange, hiba, middle clove and coriander dance with sandalwood, patchouli, amber, cade and Chinese cedar. “Baisan is the ancient ritual of paying respect to ancestors that we do in Hong Kong. It’s all about burning paper offerings and money to our ancestors,” Hannington-Suen explains. “Many of our customers love that narrative.”
Concocted in small batches and with responsibly-sourced ingredients, Homework prides itself on its army of sustainable skincare solutions. Not only are the jars reusable, the formulas of its products and packages are carefully considered and heavily researched with the environment in mind. “We use a blend of rapeseed and coconut wax which are sourced in the EU, and our coconut wax is sourced in Asia but it is all supporting growth…not deforestation and stuff. Our wax is made in the UK. For oils, we use a blend of natural essential oils and then toxin free fragrance oils,” Hannington-Suen says. In an effort to create equilibrium, the brand is also a member of 1% For The Planet, so 1% of its annual sales are donated to environmental causes.
Expansion is Homework’s next step. As a fragrance brand for “home, body and bath” it’ll be bringing back its bath soaps and soaks soon, as well as an overall wellbeing TCM tea that will be formulated by Hannington-Suen’s mum. “I also want to bring in incense because it’s used in Chinese rituals all the time – like with Baisan, where it’s used to send messages to the afterlife,” she adds. Beyond that, the idea for a Homework wellness space is taking shape. “At the moment we don’t really have a retail space, but I love the idea of having multiple spaces where we sell products but you can also have acupuncture, and have prescriptions made up, and massages and facials and stuff… that would be amazing.”
Photography courtesy of Homework.
