Keeping the flame alive

Point Lonsdale’s La Monique Perfumery and Candlery is more than just your average candle and homewares store.

It’s a store with a purpose, raising funds to support survivors of family violence.

Owners Sally and Chris Dinneen opened the business about five years ago, following the death of Sally’s sister Monique Denahy, a victim of domestic violence.

The inspiration for starting La Monique was born out of a determination to make a difference and to save other women’s lives all while raising awareness.

“We wanted her [Monique] memory to be bright and alive and shining,” Sally said.

“She would love this store, she would walk in and it’s everything beautiful and it’s everything she portrayed when she walked into a room.”

For more than five years the duo has been donating funds to the Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre, raising over $40,000, generally going towards women and children in safe houses.

The store’s La Monique range includes hand-poured candles, diffusers, soaps, moisturises and more with $5 from each purchase donated to the centre.

Sally and Chris also own Circa 1902 in Queenscliff, where La Monique first started before it moved to its own store in Point Lonsdale, where it has remained for the past three-and -a-half years.

A former teacher, Sally is completely self-taught when it comes to pouring candles, which she says offers a way for her to channel the creativity she used to use in the classroom.

After losing her sister, Sally was overwhelmed by the generosity and started pouring candles in wine bottles dropped off by friends as a way of expressing her gratitude.

“It was trial and error. I started pouring candles to go and take to friends and say thank you for the meal or thank you for thinking of us.

“When we brought the restaurant, I said to Chris that I wanted to pour candles and keep learning so that we could raise money for domestic violence.”

La Monique candles are made with a soy base and natural Australian oils, packed in simple hessian bags so all the money from pouring them goes straight into the product.

Candles were the starting point for the business, which has since grown to include fragrances from around the world as well as diffusers and homewares.

Sally said she and Chris realised if they wanted to raise even more money, they couldn’t just sell candles, and needed to extend their variety to keep the business going they

“We listened to our customers, our return customers and the locals, and they were looking for more than just fragrances and candles.

“Rather than going to gift shows or anything like that, we researched, and we reached out to companies in Italy and France and Australia that were small, bespoke and have been going for years.”

When choosing which products are stocked, the pair keep everything unique and based around the theme of La Monique.

For Sally, the business is keeping Monique’s memory alive in a way that allows her to make a difference to the lives of other survivors.

Every candle comes with the story of Monique, another way the couple continues to raise awareness around domestic violence.

“Every time somebody buys one of our products, they read the story, they light the candle and it’s a symbol of love and peace and forgiveness,” Sally said.

She describes La Monique as part of a community, offering a space where people can come in and open up about their experiences. It’s what she enjoys most about the business

“I love meeting people, chatting, and if I can get in deep with somebody and they haven’t opened up before about something, that they’ve been violated or gone through a horrific experience, and I can break through that.

“It makes me quite emotional, hopefully I might have helped somebody be a little bit stronger or heal in some way.”

“Quite a lot of tears have been shed in La Monique. We love the fact this is also a safe space, where people feel safe enough to come in and they’re strangers to us, but they actually share stories that they may have never told anyone else before.”

The focus as La Monique moves into the future is to continue raising as much money as possible for domestic violence and finding unique homewares that aren’t prevalent everywhere else.

La Monique is at 2/67 Point Lonsdale Road. Like La Monique Perfumery and Candlery on Facebook for more.