We were featured in the Brighton i360 Supplier Spotlight!!

Here at BA i360 we are committed to showcasing the very best produce that local suppliers of Sussex have to offer. Our beachside gift shop specialises in beautiful and useful products that have been created in collaboration with local businesses, artists, and makers.

Each of our sustainable suppliers have a fantastic story to share behind their incredible businesses. Our gift shop stars, Sassy & Lolla, have a particularly unique story of how the brand came to be…

How it started

Lifelong friends, Sara (Sassy) and Holly (Lolla), share a love of all things gin, wine, and fragrances! But they couldn’t help but feel there was something missing from the candle-making industry. After years of friendship, they knew that they could create something special together, something better than what was currently on the market. And so, what started out as one of their usual girls-night-ins with a gin and tonic, turned into a business venture. And in January 2021, Sassy & Lolla was born.

Their mission? To create long-lasting, luxurious yet attainable scents that didn’t leave an environmental footprint.

How it’s made

“Combining a love for incredible fragrances with a love for all things Sussex, add in our passion to produce eco-friendly, plastic-free products, & you end up with the Sassy & Lolla range” – Sassy & Lolla

Sara and Holly spent many of their evenings together conceptualising their brand. They wanted to create something that encapsulated the essence of Sussex and the south coast, taking inspiration from places they had visited and the people they had met along the way.

They developed and perfected their craft through self-taught tutorials whilst working with and supporting other small businesses to create their eco-friendly, long-lasting aromas. The Sussex Chandlers use sunflower wax refined in Surrey for their candles, a vegan and eco-friendly alternative to traditional candle waxes. The packaging, designed by Sara’s daughter, is also created using biodegradable materials.

Though they wanted to create a wide variety of scents, Sara and Holly also wanted to ensure they were unique and individual to the consumer. Their candles are inspired by memories and feel that certain fragrances should take you back to special moments in your life. Fragrances such as ‘Seven Sisters’ for example, should take you back to a time when there was “sea wind in your hair & the sun shining down on you” or their ‘Night Out with the Lady Boys​’ fragrance, which takes you to the front row of the show with exotic, fruity scents. Staff favourites

We love the sweet, citrus smells from the Sussex Staycation candle, and of course, Brighton’s own BA i360 collaboration candle – it’s as fresh as a sea breeze!

What’s next

Now, Sassy & Lolla is a thriving small business with lots of exciting projects on the way. The bubbly duo creates diffusers, melts, and even car diffusers so you can be surrounded by beautiful scents – even on the move! Keep an eye out on their website for their latest news and pop into our beachside gift shop here at BA i360 to browse their divine range of quintessentially Sussex scents.

A little bit more about Sassy & Lolla

I grew up in:

Sara (aka Sassy) grew up in Hampshire &

Holly (aka Lolla) grew up in West Sussex

Now we both live in West Sussex

When I was a child I wanted to be:

S; in the Navy.

H; a hairdresser

My first job was:

S; a dental nurse, which I did for 25 years! I worked my way through to Business Manager for a multi-discipline practice.

H; I worked in retail as a Saturday girl and worked my way up to a Manager running the store on a Sunday! I also worked for Sara in a local pub.

My current career was most influenced by:

S; a lack of long lasting, reasonably priced beautiful home fragrances on the market….so we decided (over a few G&Ts) that we could do better ourselves!

H; the excitement of doing something new with my best friend.

The best piece of advice I was given:

S; believe in yourself & no idea is a bad idea!

H; try and look at the problem from the outside. It’s never as big and scary as it feels from the inside.

When I need inspiration I:

S; call Holly, we get together & have a G&T!!

H; call Sara! Sometimes we swap gin out for wine!

I love what I do because:

S; I can be creative, I have freedom to spend time making candles & also with my awesome family & I get to chat to lots of people!

H; it feeds my creative flair We can add a personal touch and make someone’s day.

I love Brighton & Hove because:

S; it’s eclectic, fun & I absolutely love being by the sea

H; its full of brilliant memories! It’s so diverse, colourful and each visit is never the same.

When I’m not creating I’m:

S; spending time with friends, researching fragrances & “testing gin!”

H; seeing friends and making memories