The Spaasmoment of Elke and Koert

Koert and Elke live with their 3 daughters just beyond the town of Halle in the hilly countryside of Pajottenland. When they saw our Facebook request to share a personal #SpaasMoment with us they were in touch straight away. That’s why, at the end of August, we headed off to Lembeek, where we just managed to take photos of the family’s candlelit moments before the thunderstorm set in.

The family's home is a modern terraced house with a long, large garden. When we arrived it was immediately obvious why we were there. Atmospheric candles adorned the entrance hall right through to the patio. In the garden itself one of the girls had made a path of terracotta garden candles during the holidays and they were quite prepared to do it again for the #SpaasMoment. So we had taken our prettiest coloured terracotta dishes with us for the photo session. At the back of the garden stood a magnificent old cherry tree. A suitable backdrop therefore wasn’t hard to find:  Britt, Anouk and Silke lit all the dishes and the spot under the tree was transformed into a cosy, candlelit setting.

The storm was quickly upon us, so any further shooting had to be done inside. Ever since visiting the Spaas factory in her younger years Elke had developed a passion for candlelit moments. “Candles make a home cosy and give friends the message that they are welcome.” Koert adds a tale from their travels. “In Sweden we noticed that all the houses are lit with cosy candles and lamps, right up to the front door. That’s how they make it cosy when it gets dark so early. “Does Elke do that too? “Yes, at Halloween and Christmas we do put candles at the front door, and tealights in little holders in the hall.” The family’s living room even has a permanent spot for candles and at mealtimes you’ll often find floating candles and tea lights on the table. 

Do they always buy Spaas candles? “No”, admits Elke. “When I want to use lots of candles to create an impression I usually use private label tea lights. I don’t use fragranced candles much either, except in the hall or toilet now and again, just to mask an odour.” But when we want a lovely ambiance then it has to be Spaas. You can see straight away that Spaas candles are good quality: the candles burn down properly. When they’re finally finished there’s hardly any candle left, which means you can enjoy it for ages. She also comments that Spaas candles don’t drip. When I use fragranced candles I notice that Spaas fragranced candles don’t smell as strong in the shop “But when you burn them they spread a far better fragrance than Ikea candles for example.”

We certainly learned something during this visit: when you see a house that uses lots of candles you can be pretty sure that great hospitality is high on their list of priorities. The family was rewarded with a Spaas candle gift set.

The following candles were used for these photos:

  • Tea lights and maxi tea lights in glass holders

  • Ball candles and tea lights on the table

  • Fragranced candles in glass and floating candles in the turquoise living room setting

  • White terracotta garden dishes under the cherry tree

Ininflammable paper welcome bags with maxi thealights

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