Hackney Candle Making Workshop: Weekend 11am Pours at Ohros

Ohros, the one-woman candle label run by Georgia from a studio at Unit 13 Tilia Road, Hackney, London E5 8JB, opens its doors for a weekend candle making workshop at 11am on selected Saturdays and Sundays. Most sessions cost £49, last two hours and seat ten people, and each guest makes one medium bespoke scented soy wax candle. There is one catch to know before you book: the candle needs a couple of days to set, so you collect it later or have it posted rather than carrying it out of the door.

Georgia's about page is refreshingly direct. She made her first candle in January 2016, and in October 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, she volunteered for redundancy from her job and went full-time with candles. She still makes everything by hand in the Hackney studio, from the wick to the label. Ohros has since worked with brands including Sweaty Betty, Lazy Oaf, Crosstown doughnuts and the vegan burger chain Vurger Co, which explains why its labels and colours feel playful rather than spa-like.

The studio is a working space on a light-industrial lane near Clapton, not a shop with a till and browsing shelves. The website footer states plainly that it is open by appointment only, so there is no point turning up on a weekday hoping to buy a candle. The weekend classes are the main chance most people get to see the place where Ohros candles are poured.

Each class appears on the Ohros website as its own dated ticket. For the rest of 2026 the listed sessions run at 11am on Saturday 31 October, Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 November, Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 November, and then Sunday 6, Saturday 12, Sunday 13 and Saturday 19 December. The December dates line up with Christmas shopping, so they tend to fill early. A few older tickets on the homepage show £45, but most current sessions are priced at £49.

The FAQ describes the format as two hours for a small, hands-on group of ten. That size gives Georgia time to talk each person through fragrance choices one by one. If you want the room to yourselves, private classes for up to ten people can run in the studio, and larger groups of up to 30 can be hosted at another London location.

Everyone pours one medium candle in 100% soy wax. The finished medium candles in the Ohros shop come in reusable glass jars and are listed with a burn time of more than 40 hours, which gives a fair idea of what you are making. You choose and blend the scent yourself, and your ticket also brings a 15% discount on Ohros products, handy if the class turns into Christmas shopping.

Because soy wax needs time to cure, the product page asks you to choose collection or shipping at checkout. Collection means a second trip to Tilia Road once the candle has set. Shipping saves the journey and is the sensible option for anyone visiting London for a weekend. Do not expect to light your candle that evening: the wait is part of how a properly cured soy candle burns cleanly.

A tip for the blending stage: decide where the candle will live before you start mixing. Fresh, green or citrus notes suit a bathroom or a small bedroom, while warmer, woodier blends hold up better in a living room on a winter evening. Smell each oil on its own first, then in pairs, and stop at two or three. Ten people share the table, so take your time choosing but keep the bottles moving, and jot down your final recipe in case you want to reorder something similar from the Ohros shop with your 15% discount.

Ohros allows date transfers up until 14 days before your class. Inside that window you cannot move the booking, but you can pass your place to a friend, which is a fair compromise for a ten-seat room. The class is a reasonable pick for a birthday or a weekend morning with a friend. It is a poor pick for anyone who needs a gift in hand the same day, given the setting time.

The FAQ lists Hackney Central, Hackney Downs and Clapton as the stations to use, and Clapton is the closest. With an 11am start, you finish around 1pm, just in time for lunch. Chatsworth Road, a short walk east, has a Sunday market and a strip of cafés, bakeries and independent shops. Millfields Park sits at the far end of the road and leads down to the River Lea.

Follow the towpath north and you reach the Lea Bridge and the open grass of the Hackney Marshes beyond it, a long flat walk that suits a crisp November day. To head back toward central Hackney instead, Hackney Downs is a large green with a popular Sunday crowd and sits close to Hackney Downs station. If it is raining, Lower Clapton Road has enough cafés to wait out a shower before the train.

The 11am weekend sessions sell out regularly, and the website marks sold-out dates clearly. If every weekend you want is gone, the Earl of East workshop in Quadrant Arcade off Regent Street runs hour-long classes with a 170ml candle you take home the same day. In north London, K Craft Studio in Holloway runs Korean-style decorative candle classes by appointment from Wednesday to Sunday.

Studio: Ohros, Unit 13 Tilia Road, Hackney, London E5 8JB, open by appointment only. Classes: two hours at 11am on listed Saturdays and Sundays, ten guests per public class. Price: £49 for most sessions, with some older dates at £45. You make one medium soy wax candle and get 15% off Ohros products. Candles need a couple of days to set, so pick collection or shipping at checkout. Transfers are allowed up to 14 days before. No phone is published; contact goes through the website form. Stations: Clapton, Hackney Downs and Hackney Central. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a Chatsworth Road lunch spot.