ECOYA | From Soy Candles to Fragrance for Everyday Life

Our product range is constantly evolving which keeps things interesting and exciting.

Claire Barnes

ECOYA began with scented candles made from soy wax. Founded in Australia and now designed and made in New Zealand, the house has expanded from fragrance for rooms into bodycare, kitchens, cars, laundry and linen.

Its development has involved the co-founders who began the candle business, executives experienced in building consumer brands, Claire Barnes with her background in sales, and perfumers. Alongside developing fragrances, they have considered where and how those fragrances can become part of everyday life.

Contents

Brand facts
The founders and the development of the house
How ECOYA approaches fragrance
References

Brand facts

Origins: founding activity dates to 2003; the operating company was established in April 2004
Co-founders: Shane McGrath and Kurt Schweighoffer
Place of origin: the shores of Botany Bay, Sydney, Australia
Current design and manufacturing base: New Zealand
Main categories: candles, diffusers, bodycare, kitchen and laundry
Official websites: ECOYA New Zealand / ECOYA Japan

The founders and the development of the house

Early work in 2003 and candles at Botany Bay

Shane McGrath entered the fragrance business in 2003 as a co-founder of ECOYA, alongside Kurt Schweighoffer. The operating company was established the following April on the shores of Sydney’s Botany Bay.

Scented candles made from natural soy wax formed the foundation. The name ECOYA combines “ECO”, referring to the environment that inspires the house, and “SOYA”, the wax at the heart of its candles. A choice of material became part of the brand’s name.

McGrath subsequently co-founded the fragrance company Luxaroma. The work he began at ECOYA became the starting point of a continuing career in fragrance.

Executives from 42 Below join the business

Craig Schweighoffer, who had led the Australian business of vodka brand 42 Below, invested in ECOYA in 2006. In February 2008, The Business Bakery, an investment partnership involving former 42 Below executives, took a stake, and Craig became CEO.

Craig’s role was in developing distribution and overseas markets. People with experience in growing consumer brands joined the fragrance business as it entered a new phase.

In 2010, the company outlined international expansion plans as it prepared for a New Zealand public share offering. Its products already included diffusers, hand wash, lotions and soaps alongside candles. Bringing fragrance into functional everyday products was part of the business at an early stage.

Claire Barnes: building the brand from sales

Claire Barnes joined in a regional sales role in 2009. Her earlier experience included marketing at fashion brand Moochi, work in the advertising industry and magazine account management.

She came to know ECOYA through retailers and customers. The team numbered five when she arrived. She progressed to sales manager and brand general manager, becoming CEO in 2022.

At one stage, her work took her between New Zealand and Australia every other week. Meeting customers was a pleasure, while the time away from her family also presented a challenge. Developing new products and working with people have remained central to what she values about her work.

Her years with the company span its development from selling candles to creating a broader range of fragrances for daily life. Alongside the founders, someone with experience of retailers and users has helped nurture the house over time.

Working with perfumer Isaac Sinclair

Announced in 2011, the Decadence candle collection took four women of the Art Deco era as its subjects. The concept connected women’s lives and styles with 1920s New York, London, Paris and Shanghai. A person’s way of life became the starting point for a scent, giving the perfumer a character to portray as well as a place to evoke.

Isaac Sinclair’s Decadence reflected ECOYA’s shift from stock to bespoke fragrance.

The New Zealand-born perfumer’s interest grew from collecting perfume. He began by selling fragrance, although he wanted to create it.

I knew I really wanted to be on the creative side.

Isaac Sinclair

A question to fragrance expert Michael Edwards led him to an industry conference in southern France. Introductions there brought a scholarship to study the five senses in Milan, followed by perfumery training in Paris. Among ECOYA’s collaborators is a perfumer whose career began in sales and developed through experiences in different countries.

Connections with Japan

A distribution agreement with Kinu Corporation was announced in March 2012, establishing a Japanese connection during ECOYA’s international expansion. The Japanese launch announcement that September also included Decadence.

In 2026, msh Corporation announced a new Japanese launch.

How ECOYA approaches fragrance

Designing fragrance, wax, wick and glass together

A fragrance formula alone does not make a finished candle. Barnes has emphasised the importance of the glass, wick composition and size, and the compatibility of wax and fragrance.

Despite what people think, it’s not as simple as combining a wick, fragrance, and wax in just any vessel.

Claire Barnes

ECOYA uses natural soy wax and lead-free cotton wicks. In the central Madison collection, scented wax is poured into a glass vessel and paired with a silver lid. Fragrance composition, combustion and vessel design come together in the finished product.

Connecting a building with its surroundings through scent

One space Sinclair remembers is a traditional timber summer house on a small island near Stockholm. Pine trees covered the island, and the house had been built from the same trees. Even indoors, the scent connected the interior with the landscape outside.

Scents are able to create ‘invisible atmospheres’

Isaac Sinclair

The building’s materials, surrounding plants and time spent there form a complete impression. His recollection considers fragrance as part of a whole space.

The compositions of French Pear and Sandalwood & Amber

French Pear takes tree-ripened Queensland pears as its subject, combining them with vanilla and clove. Its focus is fruit framed by sweetness and spice. The fragrance extends from candles into reed diffusers and room sprays.

Sandalwood & Amber combines ginger and citrus such as lime with violet and rose, supported by sandalwood, musk and amber. Here, spices and citrus accompany a woody foundation. These two compositions show different ways of assembling materials around a central subject.

A shared fragrance for kitchen tasks

In the Kitchen Collection, Tahitian Lime & Grapefruit connects dish wash, hand wash and surface spray. Grapefruit, lemon and Tahitian lime are joined by nuances of rhubarb and tea.

Fragrance moves from products that scent a room into the practical tasks of washing and wiping. It is incorporated into objects used throughout a single everyday space.

Adapting fragrance for fabric

The Laundry Collection is developed specifically for fabric, with a softer profile intended to linger gently on linen. Wild Sage & Citrus brings together sage and citrus with fig, amber and sandalwood.

Laundry liquid, linen spray and closet tags carry fragrance through washing and storing textiles. Its delivery is considered in relation to its use.

Seasonal fragrance and vessel design

Alongside everyday collections, seasonal editions bring fragrance and design together. The 2026 Holiday Collection presents Fresh Pine as a scent that signals the season. It evokes freshly cut pine with rosewood, citrus, cedar and a hint of spice.

That year’s Madison candle pairs a vessel painted in seasonal colours with reusable tin packaging. Establishing fragrances within daily routines and creating objects for seasonal memories are both part of the work that has grown from ECOYA’s original candles.