Buddha & The Epicurean - Hippa's origin story

Read time - 03 minutes

Hippa's origin story about restoring balance

This journal is dedicated to sharing our story and how we came to craft our own fragrances, scented candles, diffusers, tea lights and ceramics. It all began when Julia, our founder, decided to change her life from auto-pilot to manual mode. After a long period of time in a corporate environment that wasn’t rewarding for her, she lost more and more touch with herself - being too rushed, exhausted, and eventually stressed all the time.

kaarsen merk geurstokken eigenaar Julia

This prevented her from experiencing joy in the little things in life. After some time it became too much and she had to leave the job. During this hard reset, she discovered a new ‘aromatic’ avenue in which she found a gesture to embrace a moment for herself. Fast forward and here we stand, at the beginning of a new and exciting journey. The direction? Inspiring more women to find more balance through powerful fragrances and mindful methods that are accessible. 

The idea of creating scented candles, and diffusers appeared when Julia was still working as a tax lawyer. While working from home on high-pressure projects, she sometimes felt she was over-pressuring herself and losing touch with everything besides the task at hand. Afterwards, being drained of her energy she needed a moment of clarity, for herself. She lit a scented candle, played soothing music in the background and sat quietly for a moment - bringing awareness to her senses, helping her to understand her emotional state better. She learned that these simple attitudes were capable of transforming her home office into a place of inspiration and tranquillity, a place that lifts her mood.

 

This newly found aromatic routine sparked a curiosity to explore the realm of alternative healing practices and how these affect the human’s physical, mental and psychological state. While researching this new field she discovers that several studies highlight how various therapies such as aromatherapy affect physical, mental, and psychological factors. A literary review analysed 30 different studies on the use of aromatherapy that resulted in reduced sympathetic activity, increased parasympathetic nerve activity - relieving stress, enabling muscle relaxation, and improved sleep quality. 

This interest in mindfulness and self-healing dates back to 2020 when Julia took a course on the side and graduated in Integrative Nutrition in New York - a study of mind and body connection that highlights the effects of your mind, lifestyle and behaviour on your physical health. Especially interested in the aromatic side of the field she discovered her new passion; Crafting scents and rituals that help people find more balance and joy in the little things in life. Alas, Hippa was born. 

Hippa was founded on the premise to ground mindfulness and aromatherapy, making it digestible, conscious and educative. Advocating to insert little and simple habits that will bring a positive impact on people’s well-being.


Highlighting that we all are Buddha & The Epicurean, in balance with our senses and able to find stability in a busy and social life, but also drinking that ‘last’ glass of wine. Which is okay… 


However, when we fail to detect that we are stretching our mental and physical limits, things might end up crashing. It often starts with overly packed schedules and a hectic job turning life into auto-pilot because we rush from one place to another. Living in this modus makes it incredibly difficult to bring awareness to the present moment - preventing us from seeing our direction clearly and blinding us from our emotions. Good luck finding joy in the simple things being in such a state. Keep this up for long enough and you will find yourself in a burnout before you know it. So, our purpose is to provide you with tools to find more appreciation and awareness in the small and simple gestures, preventing you from crossing a limit that you had not seen coming. 


In short, Hippa believes that self-care, mindfulness and well-being are something everyone can improve their lives with. We do not want to romanticise mindfulness but have people understand the power of its simple nature. Therefore we took an ode to make sure that our products and educational pieces are proper allies on your journey. Crafted by real hands, with natural sources, respecting our environment, its habitats and you, and tailored to kick you back, right here in the present, enjoying the little things in life. And we know you might need a little reminder from time to time, as the power-woman and social bee that you are.


Enjoy the journey, we’re excited that we can be part of it!

Much love,

Team Hippa