Looking back on her life thus far, Tilly Wood sounds a little surprised. She was a successful model from about the age of 16 into her early 20s, before slipping behind the camera to work in the film industry, first as a runner and then as a producer. Later, she had hoped to open a retreat with her husband, but the pandemic came along and plans were abandoned.

Instead, Wood used lockdown to focus on another business idea. In 2020, she launched Aja Botanicals, pronounced ‘Asia’ and named after an Orisha, the West African goddess of forests who used medicinal herbs to cure the sick. The British fragrance company, which produces a small collection of candles and diffusers, specialises in natural scents that are handmade in the UK with first-rate essential oils, keeping everything as close to nature as possible.

When Wood first started thinking about what would become Aja Botanicals, she knew that she wanted to use natural waxes and essential oils, but when she started to work with a perfumer, she got stuck. She would ask for something that was ‘woody’, but beyond that she didn’t have the language, so she signed up for an online course at the School of Creative Perfumery, run by award-winning perfumer Marina Barcenilla. ‘It was wonderful,’ recalls Wood. ‘You start off with the basics, which means training your nose to recognise different ingredients. It doesn’t take long to start recognising, say, bergamot or galbanum [the latter has woody elements] or to understand that elemi [sharp spicy/citrus] and frankincense might give a candle a smell of incense.’

Single-wick candle, £80, and diffuser, £90, both Into the Mystic in white

Wood explains that, while shooting a short video to promote Hello, I Love You – a candle that blends bergamot, geranium, frankincense and jasmine – the friend who was making the video asked her to describe the product. ‘Without thinking, I said that it encapsulates the youthful abandon of young girls who run out in the cold without coats on. It’s like driving your car as though you’re in Thelma and Louise and you just don’t care. Scents have an amazing ability to transport you back in time or to somewhere else entirely. The olfactory bulb, which transmits smell information to the nose, is located right by your hippocampus and your amygdala, which is where, respectively, your memories and emotions are stored.’

The Aja Botanicals range of candles – which also includes Dreams (angelica, spikenard, fir needle and fragonia), Into the Mystic (cedarwood, lavender, oakmoss and galbanum) and Walk on the Wild Side (labdanum, cade, cabreuva and oakmoss) – not only wrap you in a sensory hug when lit, they also look gorgeous. The glass vessels are handblown in Istanbul and, given Wood’s determination to minimise environmental impact, refilling is encouraged. ‘It has been challenging travelling to Istanbul and building up friendships in factories,’ she says. ‘It’s a pretty amazing city but pretty crazy too. And there’s obviously the language barrier to consider. But it’s definitely worth it. The handblown glass gives the candles a real weight and it means they are nice enough to keep. Plus, refills are more cost effective.’

Wood is currently working on a small series of eau de parfum (just three) and there’s a pop-up shop in London this year, with a few planned in the US next year. She intends to take things slowly and get it right, rather than expanding quickly for the sake of it. After all, perfecting the fragrances can be time consuming. ‘I probably did nine revisions of the four existing candles before I felt they were right,’ she says. ‘The fragrances change when you add them to the wax and then again when the candle is burning. You have to let the scents sit and then change it. It can take a year to get the fragrance right. And that’s without considering the packaging and the artwork.’

I ask Wood if she has a “signature scent”. ‘If pushed, I would say the woody notes. The top floral notes burn off first and you’re left with this incredibly evocative woody frankincense note. It reminds me of the English countryside, which can be so restorative and calming and which I adore.’