BUSINESS:
Company Name: Galleria Meduzza Location: Birmingham, UK
Approx Annual Turnover: £25k (estimated) FTEs: 2
Website: galleriameduzza.com
BUSINESS BACKGROUND
Galleria Meduzza is a sustainable home decor studio specializing in sculpture candles. We are “breaking the mould” of the traditional candle manufacturing through the utilisation of advancements in 3D printing and combining the art of sculpture with the functionality of a candle. Our studio designs and manufactures organic candles inspired by history’s greatest pieces of art.
Although customers are spoiled with choice for fragrances, we noticed there is a market gap in custom-shape candles that can serve ornamental purpose too. Having reviewed over 131 high street brands, only a few offered candles outside the traditional jar or pillar shape.
Our primary market is based in the UK but we are actively expanding overseas and have fulfilled numerous international orders.
PROCESS OF INNOVATION
The key challenge for bringing affordable sculpture candles to the market was the development of low cost moulds that can be easily scaled. Traditionally production tooling requires significant capital investment and is out of reach for a small business like ours. However, unlike many businesses we took a pro-active approach and developed our own moulds from scratch. The development process took numerous iterations but we’ve managed to achieve a desired low cost solution. We had to develop knowledge in the following areas:
- Computer aided design and complex surface modelling. Design parameter optimisation
- Principles of 3D printing. Printing parameter optimisation
- Waxmeltingprocess,fragranceanddyeformulation
- Websitedevelopmentande-commerce
As a result we’ve managed to reduce the mould cost up to 8 times for some of our products.
SOURCE OF SUPPORT
This would have not been achieved without the support of the Steamhouse staff. We attended regular meetings with technicians who shared their valuable expertise which later translated into a great product. We also collaborated with Business Engagement manager who consulted us on topics such as IP and commercialisation which are extremely useful as our company develops.
As well as receiving advice, Steamhouse funded our machinery purchase orders such as wax melter and 3D printer through grants (total value £2500). This has significantly accelerated the development process of our moulds and candles. Having access to such machinery in house allows us to cut new product introduction times and allows us to expand our portfolio.
As a result of this support we are on track to develop a mould design that costs only £1.50 and takes 20min to make (excluding curing time).
Example of our candles:
Slingshot