Candles (and candle holders) are cool again

In the old-school pizzerias, there was almost always an empty wine bottle on the counter. It looked like it had been there for decades, coated in dripped wax with a spent candle on top. That old bottle said something about the place without using words. Then the bottles disappeared, and the candles with them, making way for more Instagrammable aesthetics.But candles and candle holders are coming back. The New York Times wrote about it a few months ago, describing how American restaurants are gradually moving away from cold LEDs to rediscover the flame. It's not just nostalgia: candlelight does something no lighting system can replicate. Candles flicker, breathe, change, burn down — there is something deeply human about them. At Ulysses' Folk House in Manhattan, sixty votive candles transform the space every evening into something close to a nineteenth-century Irish pub. At Cento Raw Bar in Los Angeles, thirty slim candles cast a glow across white, cavernous plaster walls.

The candle holder is not a detail

Getting a candle into a home is easy. Holding it well and making it count is another matter. The wine bottle was a workaround, an accidental container that became an unintentional symbol of a certain way of being together. A design candle holder is something else: an object with an intentional form, a weight, a presence. It adds a tone to the space it lives in, even when the candle is out.

A Scandinavian design wall candle holder

Powder-coated steel, three matte colours (beige, cobalt blue, lavender), a shape that is quiet but not without character. It stands 25 cm tall with a minimal projection that doesn't impose itself. No shelf needed, no table: just a wall. This is the kind of object that works on a terrace, on an exterior wall, or in the half-light of a summer kitchen. The design comes straight from Copenhagen, and this wall candle holder is built to last: powder-coated steel is a durable, versatile material that resists corrosion, fading and chipping. The finish is smooth and consistent, easy to clean and keeps looking good over time.

A versatile, decorative candle holder

The Ray Candle Holder works in the opposite direction. Low, horizontal, resting on a surface. Just 3.2 cm tall and 15 cm long. The shape is graphic, almost sculptural, and the colour combinations — mint with grey and burgundy, pink with tomato — mean it holds its own as a still-life object even when no candle is lit. It's designed to sit on a surface and become part of a composition, not disappear among the glasses.

In summer, especially in summer

There's a bias around candles: that they're a winter thing. Blankets, herbal tea, rain on the window. But anyone who lives somewhere warm knows that summer gives candles an extra reason to exist. Heat amplifies scent: a small candle in a large space registers more intensely than it would in autumn. And then there's the practical angle, the one that turns an aesthetic object into something genuinely useful outdoors: anti-mosquito candles.Citronella candles work by masking the signals that attract mosquitoes — carbon dioxide and lactic acid above all. Citronella oil is recognised as safe for people and animals, and its citrus scent is not overwhelming. Eucalyptus, lavender and patchouli oil work well alongside it. A mosquito-repellent candle on a terrace table isn't just a repellent — it's light and fragrance too.