Kindling hope, a Lebanese woman turns to candle making to overcome challenges

Record ID: 1717875

  • Title: Kindling hope, a Lebanese woman turns to candle making to overcome challenges
  • Date: 30th March 2023
  • Summary: ZALKA, LEBANON (MARCH 24, 2023) (REUTERS) LEBANESE CANDLE MAKER LORY HOVIVIAN OPENING THE DOOR OF HER STORE / SIGN ON WALL READING (English): "CANDLES MAKE PEOPLE HAPPY" VARIOUS OF HOVIVIAN PLACING CANDLES ON SHELVES / HOVIVIAN SAYING (English): "Once the candles are dry, they are ready to go. So I simply display them based on the scents. I have different scents, different
  • Embargoed: 13th April 2023 11:51
  • Keywords: Lebanon art candle making candles crisis therapy
  • Location: ZALKA AND BEIRUT, LEBANON
  • City: ZALKA AND BEIRUT, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Middle East,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA001121529032023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Despite Lebanon's multiple crises, Lory Hovivian is investing in the country because she believes it will get better.
    But to cope with the challenges that comes with it as well personal problems, she turned to candle making seeking comfort and mental health well-being.
    When Hovivian lost her father to cancer in 2018, she started visiting his resting place and lighting candles there, growing a passion for the flammable object.
    "In 2019, with the early stages of the crisis in Lebanon, I started to feel myself worse. I started losing my loved ones, myself and I felt myself in the dark. So to take my mind off, I decided to explore the world of art and enrolled in online workshops such as candle making, pottery making and flower styling. And after the explosion (referring to Beirut port blast in August 2020) also that occurred, it really pushed me harder to work on this and take it more seriously," the 32-year-old said.
    Lebanon is witnessing an unprecedented economic crisis with nationwide protests in 2019 and a devastating explosion in its capital in 2020.
    That year, Hovivian lost a friend in the blast and her mother was diagnosed with cancer.
    "The problems of my life occurred one after the other... So when I started pottery making and candle making, it helped me a lot to let it all out somehow," she added, speaking from her store that she opened in November 2022.
    Hovivian explained how she started candle and pottery making in late 2020 as a form of therapy.
    Little did she expect, she found herself with more than 100 candles at home and decided to start selling them for extra income on the sidelines of her work in communication.
    "I became a monster in candle making and pottery making but a good monster, like with positive energy, with flowers, with good scents," she described, adding how her store and atelier is her "happy place".
    (Production: Emilie Madi, Maria Semerdjian)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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