Her flagship store feels more like a chic Parisian apartment than a shop. She makes her collaborators cry with joy. She crafted her first wares in a weatherboard church on the Hawkesbury River. And her signature piece is shaped like a snail.
Celebrating 10 Years of Milestone Moments at Maison Balzac With the “Shy French Girl” Who Lit Up Australia (and the World)
Founder Elise Pioch Balzac looks back on the first decade of her homewares label Maison Balzac – from peddling candles out the back of her car in Sydney, to selling one carafe per second to fans worldwide and finding the spirit of her brand in a snail called Monsieur Escargot.
Published on 20 December 2022
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Maison Balzac founder Elise Pioch Balzac has had a busy – and surprisingly emotion-filled – decade since launching her eponymous homewares label in 2012. Known for her scented candles and gorgeous glassware, French-born and Sydney-based Pioch Balzac has gone from selling candles from the back of a car to supplying to some of the world’s leading boutiques and department stores. And she’s done it all in the spirit of collaboration, artisanship and playful elegance.
To mark the brand’s 10-year anniversary, Pioch Balzac shares some of her most treasured moments with Broadsheet.
The first Maison Balzac products
I poured my first 100 candles in the church I used to live in, on the Hawkesbury River, 10 years ago in 2012. That first collection was made of five perfumed candles, each recalling a specific moment from a typical Sunday when I was eight years old in the south of France. They are still in the collection today, but we now have 20 fragrances in total.
Her first boutique sales
I remember that I lovingly placed my first 100 candles in the boot of my car (a black BMW Z3 convertible) and I drove around Sydney to my five favourite fashion boutiques. All of them decided to give a go to Maison Balzac: Belinda in Double Bay; Bloodorange in Elizabeth Bay; The Standard Store in Surry Hills; Poepke in Paddington; and Incu in the city. Then I flew to France to get married, and when I returned one month later all these stores placed a re-order. It felt like a miracle. I was overjoyed.
Meaningful Maison Balzac collaborations
My very first collaboration was with Romance Was Born, thanks to my previous career as a fashion buyer. (I used to work for Australian boutiques Belinda and The Corner Shop). It was so fun to mix their world with mine and come up with their ideal perfume. My second collaboration was with floral artist Doctor Cooper, which was so pleasurable that we created three scents together over the course of three years. These have been very significant in the history of Maison Balzac because they are confronting, addictive and game-changing. Lisa had tears rolling down her eyes when she smelt Sainte T for the first time. I am so proud to be able to provoke this kind of emotion in people.
Milestone moments for the brand
My proudest moment was to be selected by the Colette boutique in Paris six months after the launch of my brand. Being sold in this international institution was a dream come true. The second significant moment was the launch of the Sainte T candle. It was an exceptional event. It was held at Doctor Cooper's artist residency at Carriageworks where a single musician played Bach on a cello for three hours straight, in the middle of a room plunged into darkness. A single spotlight was on the instrument and another one was on the Sainte T candle, burning calmly on a plinth next to the musician. Guests walked away from this feeling profoundly moved.
Significant products along the way
My very first drinkware objects launched in 2017: a set of four goblets and a timeless carafe set in five colours: smoke, pink, amber, teal and green. These have marked the next chapter of Maison Balzac – after focusing on scented objects we turned to blown glassware.
And the first one that really went viral
Our pink J'ai Soif carafe set went viral when it was featured as the best gift by The Financial Times' How to Spend It magazine in the UK. We started selling one carafe per second, worldwide, from that moment.
Maison Balzac’s first bricks-and-mortar shop
Opening a physical retail space was never a dream of mine. I was very happy with our own online store and the many beautiful retailers representing our brand throughout the world. But one of my favourite Victorian corner houses in Sydney's Surry Hills became available and it felt like the dream space in which to display our entire world. So we opened our first flagship store in Sydney in May 2021, in the middle of a pandemic. It was the best idea ever.
The object that really captures the spirit of the label
To me the entire story of Maison Balzac is contained in our white marble snail incense holder, Monsieur Escargot. Not only is it made by hand in France from recycled marble powder, but it has a playful elegance that I particularly love. Who would have thought that the antenna of a snail could become incense sticks? Who would have thought that a shy French girl would create a new life in Australia and turn all her dreams into reality?
