Côté Bougie Marrakech | A Mother-and-Son Candle Workshop and Moroccan Craftsmanship

What I sell is a journey, craftsmanship, a story.

— Omar Benabderrazik

Candles made in small kitchen pans grew into a mother-and-son business. At Côté Bougie Marrakech, fragrances developed in Grasse meet Moroccan pottery and woven fibres. The brand brings together two strands of work: turning memories of a city into scent, and entrusting the vessels to its artisans.

Contents

Basic information
The founder and the beginnings of the brand
Craft and creative choices
A note on the historical sources
References

Basic information

Beginnings: 2003 in the twentieth-anniversary article and brand book; an official account giving 2006 is discussed below.
Founder: Saïda Kadiri.
Family member joining the business: her son Omar Benabderrazik, in 2005.
Base: Marrakech, Morocco.
Main products: scented candles, reed diffusers and room sprays, among others.
Official website: Côté Bougie Marrakech

The founder and the beginnings of the brand

From decorating children’s bedrooms to making candles in the kitchen

Saïda had decorated children’s bedrooms in Casablanca. After moving to Marrakech, she sought a new creative occupation and began making the candles she had long enjoyed. Good-quality candles were difficult to find locally at the time, and she had brought them home whenever she travelled.

I started with small saucepans, in the kitchen.

— Saïda Kadiri

Her experiments moved into a small workspace. She later took technical training in Tours, France, where her son was studying. Back in Morocco, she hired staff and established a shop with a workshop in Marrakech’s Sidi Ghanem district.

Omar joined in 2005 after completing his studies in France. Trained in accounting, he took on management and sales while Saïda concentrated on creation.

From hotel commissions to scents of Marrakech

The early workshop made candles in glass vessels for hotels, restaurants and weddings. A turning point came in 2011, when disruption to Marrakech’s tourism economy exposed the business’s dependence on hospitality and events.

Seeing international brands at Maison&Objet, Omar recognised weaknesses in his own packaging, storytelling and fragrances’ connection to Morocco. He turned to Marrakech itself. He invited perfumers from Grasse to experience the city, an approach that led to scents including Mandarine Majorelle and Place des Épices. Moroccan pottery, raffia and metalwork also became part of the vessels.

The same approach continued in later projects. In 2017, Omar described the idea behind the planned Black Edition:

We conceived it around the theme of a journey to Marrakech.

— Omar Benabderrazik

Its proposed names evoked tea in the medina, a stroll through the souk and a night in Marrakech.

Testing fragrance diffusion and the way a candle burns

Developing the scent and vessel still left practical problems to solve. The candles did not always diffuse fragrance adequately, and sometimes produced black smoke. Omar listened to customers, changed waxes, reworked the wicks and kept testing.

A Greek manufacturer he met at a trade fair helped him make progress. The improvements continued over several years. By around 2019, the product had reached the standard he wanted.

Craft and creative choices

Moroccan artisans and contemporary design

We value Moroccan artisans and their time-honoured skills.

— Saïda Kadiri

Côté Bougie treats the vessel as part of the creation. It works with a team in Grasse on fragrance and draws on skills from different parts of Morocco for its containers. Materials and finishing connect the artisans’ work with contemporary interiors.

Tamegroute Green: pottery and Mint & Tea

Potters in the Drâa Valley shape Tamegroute Green’s vessel by hand and fire it in wood-and-palm-fuelled kilns. Runs in the glaze, shifting colours and small irregularities give each piece its own finish. The vessel is paired with Mint & Tea, a fragrance combining the freshness of crushed mint leaves with delicate green-tea nuances.

Mogador: raffia woven in Essaouira

For the Raffia Collection, women artisans in the Essaouira region weave plant fibres around the candles. They use natural raffia or combine it with coloured fibres and leather, making the weave itself into a pattern.

Mogador takes Essaouira’s old name and uses a sleeve woven strand by strand by a women’s cooperative. It is paired with Mon Bel Oranger, a fragrance inspired by the orange tree. The place where the cover is made gives the candle its name; the fruit tree supplies its fragrance theme.

Sarah Lavoine and a vessel with replaceable parts

The collaboration with Maison Sarah Lavoine began in 2025, bringing the designer’s colours to Côté Bougie’s distinctive Tamtam shape. Moroccan artisans shape and glaze the ceramic vessels by hand.

Tamtam Twist continues that collaboration with a replaceable four-wick candle bowl. In the Sarah Blue model, a blue base holds a white ceramic bowl, paired with Narguilé, a woody fragrance inspired by hookah smoke. The base can remain while the bowl’s colour and fragrance change.

A note on the historical sources

The 2003 starting date follows Côté Bougie’s twentieth-anniversary article and its Brand Book 2025–2026. The brand book separately records a 2013 brand launch with a visual identity and showcase website. Côté Bougie’s English-language “Our story” page gives 2006; the reason for that difference remains unresolved.