The Pine Behind Roland

The beauty of Roland Pine began with a slow unfurling, like a plant reaching out of the earth on a chilly March day, anticipating new beginning. The collection began a bit serendipitously. We were really still a bath and body company, with a few beeswax candles, some home fragrance, scented drawer papers, scented stationery.  Seriously, it was all about BODY-- soaps, bath powders, salt scrubs, oils.

 At the time, we were working with Elizabeth (Beth) Grubuagh, and she had several lovely sketches of pinecones around her desk area.  We started with that inspiration. At that time, she lived up in Tuxedo and would drive through Harriman State Park to our studio in Tappan. Those windy roads and pine trees have always been intoxicating.

I was heading down to Atlanta to show our extended sales force what we had in store for holiday season. This came together rather quickly!  We took a vial of pine-inspired fragrance and a sketch for show and tell. The burst of excitement was contagious. When I got back to New York, we began to design the packaging and give this "pine" a name.  Oddly, pine is not the main ingredient in Roland Pine. It is in fact fir needle, blended with pine and cilantro. We wanted to dub this new pine fragrance with a local name, something regional. Roland was a member of the Harriman family (Harriman State Park) and had a good feel.  We didn't know him, but learned he was a philanthropist and a harness racing patron. We liked the local connection and the sound of Roland Pine.  Our new fragrance became Roland Pine, just like that!  It is now our best-seller in home fragrance and if you visit our kiosk in Bryant Park or Union Square during the holidays in NYC, you will get a whiff of our Roland spectacle!  

Although we used to make all of our candles, our growth through the years made that hands-on work difficult.  We do preserve our regional connection and have our candles made right here in New York by a family-owned candle manufacturer. It's special. The magic of this fragrance makes people happy. When our kiosks are open, I watch people get a whiff of the Pine and follow their noses right to our booth and exclaim "What's that smell?”

Roland Rocks!  It's fresh and crisp, all year long, and the soy wax burns clean and even. We are so excited to release a few new candles and an incredible Home Fragrance Spray for Holiday 2020. Stay tuned….