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In 2019, Emme NYC founders Erica Luo and Mark Fuqua moved from San Francisco to New York. Then the pandemic hit. The couple found themselves feeling homesick for the scents of their Asian-American upbringing, but the candles at everyday retailers just weren’t cutting it.

“We started off by burning whatever we could find off the shelves from department stores,” explains Luo. “And every time we did find a candle, it was always mixed with maybe a flower, or something like a vanilla or lavender base—something that didn’t really capture the authentic essence of the smells we were looking for and grew up with.”

Thus, Emme NYC was born. The AAPI-owned brand makes candles, diffusers, and hand washes in scents that might be familiar (or new!) to you, and are largely inspired by the Asian community, its foods, and its rituals.

“We actually started with [the scent] honey and jasmine,” the candle brand founder explains. “It was a very popular boba drink at the time. That’s where the inspiration came from, and how the Asian angle really got started.”

Emme NYC’s line of scents is as extensive as it is mouthwatering. Customers can shop everything from treat-inspired mochi, red bean, bingsu, and almond biscuit candles, to nature-inspired scents such as hinoki, bamboo, sakura, and chrysanthemum—and so much more.

For those who aren’t familiar with the fruit, durian is a spiky tropical fruit considered to be one of the smelliest fruits in the world. However, its flavor when eaten has been described as custardy and sweet.

“Every time we do a marketplace and see customers’ reactions in real time, they pick it up and are pleasantly surprised because they have such a strong negative connotation with that smell,” she says.

“But they’re like, ‘oh, actually, this is pretty… it’s a nice, pleasant scent.’ So I think what we aim to do with the brand is to rewrite these stereotypes of the smells we have.”

Want your own Emme NYC scent recommendations? Look to the founders for some inspiration.

Luo is a self-admitted “floral girly,” and her favorite Emme NYC scent is jasmine tea, “just because it’s fresh,” she says. “I think it’s very universal, and it’s not just for girls. We have a lot of guys who enjoy the softness of the floral.”

She explains that her husband Fuqua “really likes bamboo.”

“It’s very inviting,” she says. “We went to a conference, and we sampled the soaps in the bamboo fragrance. We had people lining up to buy it before it was even launched.”

Emme NYC’s candles are toxin-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free, cruelty-free, vegan, and pet-safe—a choice inspired by the couple’s own needs, but one that can end up benefiting everyone.

“We’re the ones making it, we were the ones testing it, and we were the ones using it in our homes. So we didn’t want to have a lot of the chemicals typically found in paraffin wax candles from department stores,” Luo explains.

Shop our Emme NYC favorites

Ready to explore scents that evoke nostalgia and make your home smell really, really good? Discover Emme NYC’s line of unique, culturally inspired candles below.