Smell is a funny thing. You can forget a person’s face, forget a conversation, or even forget what you had for breakfast yesterday. But the smell of rain on dry earth, freshly baked cake, or a room you’ve not stepped into for years has a strange way of bringing memories rushing back. It’s perhaps the only sense capable of transporting you somewhere without asking for permission.
Rijo has always been fascinated, or rather, intrigued by that idea of scents. Long before Good Conscious Co. became a handmade, clean home fragrance brand, she was simply someone who loved candles and the way they could completely transform the feeling of a space. But that would eventually grow into a business she now runs with her husband, Vaishakh, out of Angamaly.
But to know the story of Good Conscious Co., we have to travel all the way to Dubai, Goa, Bangalore and then Kerala.
The Conscious Beginning
Both Vaishakh and Rijo spent a large part of their lives in Dubai. Rijo was born and brought up there, while Vaishakh spent nearly 26 years in the city before the couple moved back to India in 2017.
Goa became their first home. Vaishakh was heading the national operations of an alcohol company, while Rijo was working with Hilton. Candles, at this point, were simply a hobby. “She just loved candles,” Vaishakh tells me. “She started making them for ourselves by watching YouTube tutorials. Then our friends and family started asking if they could have some too. They kept coming back for more, and that’s when we realised maybe there was something here.”
Interestingly, back then, the business wasn’t even called Good Conscious Co. It was known as Goa Home Studio, a small passion project that slowly began finding customers through word of mouth in Goa. It started with a few handmade candles and soon expanded into incense sticks, aroma oils and car fresheners.
Also Read: Nail Berrie: How Two School Friends from Kerala Built a Premium Press-On Nails Brand
When the Hobby Outgrew the Apartment
As more orders came in, the hobby started demanding more space than the couple could offer. By the time they moved to Bangalore, their two-bedroom apartment had become equal parts home and production unit. Boxes of candles occupied one room, fragrance oils another, while packaging material somehow found its way into every available corner. “Production days were honestly chaotic,” Vaishakh laughs. “The whole apartment became one big maze.”
In need of a larger space to handle production, they moved to Angamaly. The couple converted Vaishakh’s ancestral home over there into a dedicated studio, officially registered the company and even went through a complete rebranding exercise after learning they couldn’t trademark the name “Goa Home Studio.” Looking back, Vaishakh says it was one of the most difficult phases of the journey. They had spent years building recognition around one name, only to start all over again. “It felt like a circus at the time,” he says. “Chaotic, but fun.”
What makes Good Conscious Co. Different?
“If we’re just selling the same vanilla that everybody else is selling, why would someone buy from us?” Vaishakh asks. It was a question the couple asked themselves right from the beginning. Instead of buying ready-made fragrances and pouring them into candles, they began blending different fragrance oils together at home, experimenting until they found combinations that felt uniquely theirs. That became one of Good Conscious Co.’s biggest strengths.
Once they finalise a blend, the fragrance supplier reserves that particular combination exclusively for them. “We wanted every fragrance to have a little twist,” he says. “If it’s vanilla, it shouldn’t just smell like vanilla. It could have hints of coffee or apple. We wanted people to remember our fragrances.”
That philosophy is perhaps best reflected in one of their best-selling candles, Petrichor. Rather than calling it simply “rain”, the fragrance is inspired by the Kerala monsoon. Even the labels avoid listing fragrance notes in the conventional way. Instead, they tell you what the candle is inspired by. It feels less like buying a scent and more like buying a memory.
Must Check Out: Hotto: How Three Gym Friends Built a Healthy Nut Spreads Brand from Kerala
The Good Conscious Co. (Slow) Process
The research is one of the time-consuming parts of the business. Rijo had no formal background in candle making before she started. Everything she knows today was learned through months of reading, watching tutorials, testing fragrances and making mistakes. “Back then, every fragrance was trial and error,” Vaishakh says. “Now we’ve developed an understanding of what works together. But even today, creating a new fragrance takes time. Every new candle we make”
That patience, much like their products, seems to have become part of the brand’s identity.
The same thoughtfulness extends to the ingredients as well. While paraffin wax continues to dominate much of the candle industry because of its lower cost, Good Conscious Co. has chosen to work exclusively with soy wax. It’s more expensive, but also cleaner and plant-based. The couple also tries to reduce plastic wherever possible, although it isn’t entirely possible due to the clean ingredients used.
“We actually wanted to go completely plastic-free,” he tells me. “But it isn’t practical.” He points to their handmade incense sticks as an example. Unlike machine-made incense, which is dipped into perfume after it’s rolled, Good Conscious Co.’s incense sticks are mixed by hand using fragrant oils. When they tried switching to paper packaging, the oils seeped into the paper and the sticks would often break. “That’s when we realised sustainability also has to be practical,” he says. “So we reduced plastic wherever we could, but we also accepted that some things still need it.”
Rijo spends most of her time researching new fragrances and experimenting with different combinations. Vaishakh handles sales, marketing and everything that comes with running a growing business. But, as he puts it, the lines blur very quickly. “From sweeping the floor to being the CEO, we do everything ourselves,” he laughs. “There isn’t really a job title when there are only two of you.”
Also Read: This Malayali Founder Built C’s The World, a Series of Geography Games for All Ages
What Good Conscious Co. Sells Today
Good Conscious Co. has grown far beyond candles. Alongside their handmade soy wax candles, the brand now offers aroma oils, wardrobe sachets, handmade incense sticks, car fresheners, room sprays, reed diffusers and naturally fragrant Palo Santo wood.
They have also built a presence across several independent lifestyle stores in cities like Bengaluru, Kochi, Hyderabad and Goa, while continuing to receive wholesale and white-label enquiries from businesses across the country. Wedding favours, birthday gifts and festive hampers have become a growing part of the business too.
You can check out Good Conscious Co. here.
FAQs
Where is Good Conscious Co. based? The home fragrance brand Good Conscious Co. is based in Angamaly, Kerala, operating out of a studio converted from founder Vaishakh’s ancestral home.
What makes Good Conscious Co.’s candles different? The brand blends its own custom fragrance combinations rather than using off-the-shelf scents, and each finalised blend is reserved exclusively for them by their supplier. They also use soy wax instead of paraffin.
What products does Good Conscious Co. sell? Handmade soy wax candles, aroma oils, wardrobe sachets, handmade incense sticks, room sprays, reed diffusers, car fresheners, and Palo Santo wood.
Where can I buy Good Conscious Co. products? Through independent lifestyle stores in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Goa, as well as directly from the brand via website, wholesale and white-label orders.
