Fourteen years of candles, colour and ideas — from Rye, East Sussex
photo: Nick and Silvia Shinn
Plaristo has been making and supplying candles from Rye, East Sussex, for more than 14 years. What began as a small shop has grown into a much-loved candle shop in Church Square, Rye, and a wholesale business supplying independent shops, florists and gift retailers across the UK.
Plaristo is a family business, run by Christiana West together with her parents, Silvia and Nick Shinn. Even our name reflects something of who we are. It draws on the contrast between Plato, who sought beauty in the world of ideas, and Aristotle, who found it in the physical, observable world. Somewhere between the idea and the making of it is where Plaristo has always felt at home.
photo: Christiana signing the lease for our new Church Square shop.
Alongside our long-standing partnership with a German candle manufacturer, we make candles by hand in our Church Square studio, with the same care and attention that first built our reputation in the shop.
photo: Christiana making tealights
Our shop is also our testing ground — a kind of nursery where new ideas are grown, tried and refined. We see first-hand what people pick up, what they fall in love with and what they come back for.
photo: Customers choosing candles in Plaristo Shop
Only the most successful designs and ideas make their way into our wholesale collection for our retail partners.
photo: Exterior of Plaristo Shop
When you buy from Plaristo, you are buying from a family business that has made candles its life's work — not simply its stock list.
Photos: From our Archives: The early days of Plaristo - the boxes may have changed but everyone still gets stuck in.