I met Tanwi Nandini Islam on an industrial corner in Bushwick, Brooklyn. She escorted me past graffiti adorned warehouses where “Thank You” plastic bags and “I Heart New York” shirts are printed, and just around a furniture refurbishing garage, before we arrived at her studio. Called Hi Wildflower Botanica, it’s a company that creates candles, perfumes, and skin products composed of natural aromatic scents.
The concrete floors and flushed white walls contradict the aromas of sandalwood and hibiscus that fill the winding hallway leading us to Nandini Islam’s workspace. Everyone inside has faces freckled with small white spots. The freckles are splashes of warm wax that have dried and clung to their skin like wet sand.
A team of four people stands over a large makeshift wooden table holding more than 200 candles that have been placed there to dry, their pre-sutured wicks dangling off the sides. The wax has already been melted in what looked like an oversized steel Crock-Pot, and steam-distilled fragrant oils have been added in formulaic proportions and hand-poured into glass jars that read like poetry: All the secrets of the universe live inside Rosewood rings. Amazonian Wonders. The Galaxy is a living thing. Soon, all of these soy candles will be shipped out to Urban Outfitters locations around the world.
It’s quite a change for Nandini Islam, who not so long ago had begun to wonder what she would be when she grew up. Just after her 30th birthday, Nandini Islam was fired from her corporate job as a brand manager, her novel had not been published, and the accomplishment she felt after receiving her MFA from Brooklyn College had quickly dissolved into doubt.
“I felt like a loser,” Nandini Islam says.
Since that moment of doubt, Nandini Islam’s career has flourished. Her debut novel Bright Lines was just released by Penguin Press. And she’s on top of the world with Hi Wildflower Botanica.
Many of the scents Nandini Islam uses in her products were discovered during her travels—she has lived everywhere from Kenya to India—and in research studies for her novel. Bright Lines follows orphaned Ella as she journeys from Bangladesh to Brooklyn to live with the Saleems after the murder of her parents. Ella’s uncle, Anwar Saleem, similarly to Nandini Islam, is the owner of a small apothecary in Brooklyn.
After the novel was complete and Nandini Islam put her characters to rest, she retained a fervent interest in the attars and frankincense introduced by Anwar. This knowledge aided in the cultivation of her own products. She decided that she would be a maker.
“The idea of being a maker is creating a product that already exists and adding your own story and branding to make it original,” Nandini Islam explains. “No one else has your story.”
In August 2014, Nandini Islam began making oils, candles, and skin treatments in her Brooklyn apartment and selling her products at the Renegade Craft Fair. She used lo-fi materials, an ink jet printer for labels, floral sketches from local artist friends, and included her own poetry to create the aesthetic she desired. Her only marketing tool was her personal instagram account, @HiWildflower.
One year later, Nandini Islam’s business has expanded beyond her imagination. Hi Wildflower Botanica products are sold in over 30 retail stores globally, and up until a few weeks ago, she was the company’s sole employee.
Tanwi Nandini Islam embodies all of the characteristics of a wildflower: a free, unconventional, deviant beauty. Naturally, her motto for success captures this spirit too: “Do it, change, do it again.”
Photo credit: Madesmith