Tragedy that evolved into Beauty: THE STORY BEHIND BEAUTIFULLY HANDCRAFTED

Co-Founders Ian and Liz Wells see their business as an expression of their evolved selves. Rather than a platform to purely operate a business ‘We realised that we would never be happy leading a ‘Conventional life’ - Ian Wells.

"In the past we were both driven by the pursuit of success, hoping that one day it would bring happiness. The reality was that we were trying to juggle too many things, we were trying to be everything to everyone else and it nearly killed us."

Working long hours, studying and trying to raise a family resulted in a series of events that would change their lives. One morning whilst driving to work Liz was involved in a serious car accident. ‘Being cut out of my car by the fire brigade and blue lighted to hospital not being able to feel my legs was quite possibly the most frightening experience of my life, it made me pause and re-evaluate everything’ - Liz Wells

Thankfully Liz escaped with a few broken bones, but the whole experience haunted her and deeply affected her mental health. The trauma of the accident affected Ian deeply too. Although the full extent of the impact would not be realised until a few months later when he too was hospitalised with a suspected heart attack. He had been struggling for some time, but the accident pushed him to breaking point.

As a relatively young man, the consultant told me that I had to seriously change my life and bring my blood pressure down, immediately! - Ian Wells

These series of events prompted a complete change in their lives, which would see them move their family to Cornwall. ‘We realised that we only have one life, there were no reruns, and that it was time we lived it’ -Liz Wells

"Most people thought we were crazy when we said that we were moving to Cornwall, but we knew that what was crazy was staying in a situation and in jobs that were killing us, our thoughts and values had changed and there was no going back now!"

After they had relocated to South Cornwall, Ian took up photography. It was a hobby that he had always enjoyed but never had any time before. What he noticed was quite remarkable, that the more time he spent outside taking photos and capturing scenes the calmer he felt and his health both physically and mentally began to improve. Liz, seeing the positive impact that the environment was having on Ian, decided that she too would capture the inspiration that came from the beauty of the Cornish landscape and developed a range of candles that she felt captured her own positive experiences of her new-found life in Cornwall.

"I have always loved candles, there is something very special about watching a flame burn in the evening, it is calming and inspiring at the same time! I decided that if Ian was going to take such awesome pictures and make everything look so nice, that I would try to capture the sense of smell and replicate the same sense of calm and inspiration that I have come to enjoy." - Liz Wells

Liz and Ian lit up as they spoke about their love of Cornwall, and the joy that they found in working together in their new unconventional lives. Not only have they been able to create a business that works for them, which is named Beautifully Handcrafted in Cornwall, but they see this as a mere extension of how they have taken charge of their lives and Beautifully Handcrafted it into something that reflects their new-found values and passion for life.