Sister Mary, a new strategic design agency founded by Leigh Chandler, today unveils the design for a limited-edition run of intricately designed votive candles. The client? Leigh herself.

Leigh, whose 20 year career has seen her design for major brands including Baileys and Guinness, says: “If you’re going to start your own agency, you might as well start off by giving yourself your dream brief. Designing these limited edition Sister Mary candles was the perfect opportunity to engage myself creatively, from day one as an agency owner, and to simultaneously show off what Sister Mary does best: express the beauty of ideas and the power of art.”

The candles, with their richly intricate design and thematic link to Sister Mary’s namesake (radical nun-turned-artist Sister Mary Corita Kent) are not only covetable items in their own right, but signals to Chandler’s long history of helping brands sidestep bland, ineffectual packaging and express their powerful ideas through beautiful design. Read on for details // See a full suite of assets here.
Lighting the spark

Chandler’s creative spark arrived on a run-of-the-mill trip to her local bodega, which, like many discount shops in New York, stocks prayer candles – featuring everything from earnest portraits of saints to cartoon characters and memes.

“I knew I wanted to create something unique to really show off my creative vision for Sister Mary, something that would represent the kind of work I love doing,” says Leigh. “One morning in the bodega, walking past the shelf of candles, it clicked: here’s an ordinary object with such creative potential, and it just so happens to tie thematically into the tongue-in-cheek religious motifs I’ve peppered into the Sister Mary brand.”

The resulting design celebrates the artistic tradition of votive candles while bringing Sister Mary’s fresh, brave point of view to the table with a richly illustrated holographic label design.

Leigh says: “I have spent my career helping brands turn their packaging into beautiful objects that convey meaning to their customers. This was my opportunity to create a beautiful object that would honor and elevate my own business to my peers and ideal clients. It was such an exciting, and meaningful, creative challenge to embark on.”

Beacon of Change

Once she’d landed on designing candles, Leigh applied her strategic process to her own project, ultimately identifying a guiding concept to underpin her approach to the candle design: Beacon of Change. The sentiment summons the image of a candle, while simultaneously harkening to the agency’s namesake, Sister Mary Corita Kent, an artist and activist, and to Leigh’s own values.

Chandler, who has been outspoken about the inequity women leaders face in the creative industries, explains: “Sister Mary is standing for equality in creative ownership of agencies. Our ethos and way of operating is different to other agencies. Our way of working and creative output is disruptive and unique. We wanted this candle to signify that.”

Chandler also wanted the candles to be rich and multi-layered in terms of storytelling. An avid opponent of “blanding,” Chandler saw the candle design as an opportunity to show off her maximalist, expressive design style through rich symbolism that told her story while also harkening back to artistic traditions that have always inspired her.

The artwork incorporates Biblical imagery, Tarot symbolism, and some from the broader world of the mystic, as well as the winking nun – one of several homages to Sister Mary Corita Kent. Another nod to Kent is the text “When in doubt turn off the lights,” which comes from language on a wartime poster Kent included in a collage piece. Chandler found her own meaning in the line: “I see it as a call to take time to reflect and look inward for inspiration if you ever feel overwhelmed or uninspired.”

Nothing like it

To help bring the rich symbolism to life, Chandler brought illustrator Graham Erwin on board. “It was important that we pulled upon recognizable symbols but made sure they all had a playful twist upon closer inspection,” Erwin says. “We were very inspired by collaged imagery from tarot and the occult, but also screen printed poster art and street art to give us the modern energy we needed.”

But Chandler and Erwin were wary of merely replicating visuals they loved: “We were very keen to create something truly unique that didn’t fall into current trends,” Chandler says. “If anything, during the moodboard stage, our main filter was ‘have I seen something like that before? Yes? OK it’s not right.’”

As a result, Easter-eggs that are unique and personal to Chandler and Sister Mary abound in the final design: a lit joint disguised as a candle and subtle marijuana leaves climbing up the side of the label are nods to Leigh’s experience designing for cannabis brands and recent stint as a judge for the Cannabis Clio Awards; an occultic Pentacle design represents a tarot reading that Chandler received whilst deciding whether or not to found her agency; and sunflowers, symbols of longevity, represent the kind of lasting relationship Leigh hopes to have with dream clients.

“I have always tried to instill in people working with me that the world is our oyster,” says Chandler. “We can make anything we can dream up. Let’s go wild, let’s let loose and allow ourselves to stretch. These candles are my way of following my own advice.”