Local Spotlight: Skeem
Back in 2004, before the world had gone totally gaga for green, Philly husband-and-wife team Geoff Weiser and Suji Meswani both left corporate jobs (he as a graphic designer; she as a buyer for Philadelphia-based Anthropologie stores) and set about researching ways to develop natural, high-quality, long-lasting candles — but with packaging that was as reusable as it was beautiful.
The results are the gorgeous, uniquely scented pillar, lantern and votive candles that you’ve probably already bought — or, at the very least, admired — in stores both in Philadelphia and beyond. Skeem’s scents, inspired by the couple’s yearly jaunts to locales like India, Costa Rica, Mexico, Thailand, Buenos Aires, and New Zealand, have much more depth and complexity than your run-of-the-mill Yankee (think flavors like clove pomegranate, green fiddlehead, white tea and thyme, and yuzu vanilla), and the intricately silk-screened glass jars, covered in sketches inspired by photographs they take while traveling, as well as old ticket stubs, books, maps, postcards and drawings, will make for some of the prettiest drinking glasses in your cupboard, once the candle is gone (which could take a while — the 32-ouncer lasts for 240 hours!). And everything’s manufactured right here in the US.
Look for Skeem candles — and their coordinating, cellophane-wrapped boxes of matches — in Anthropologie stores, and Center City’s Open House Living. Also check out their recently launched e-commerce site (free ground shipping on orders over $50!).
