Case Study
Reinventing Centuries-Old Candle Tools for a Global Italian Church
Challenge
It’s rare to receive a request from a centuries-old institution to modernize tools that have remained largely unchanged since the 1400s, gaining widespread use in the 1700s. Our client, a prominent Italian-based church with a global reach, sought to reinvent their candle maintenance tools—a collection including wick trimmers, candle lighters, snuffers, pickers, and pushers—that had become cumbersome, inefficient, and outdated for today’s practices.
Although candles themselves have evolved in size, quality, and usage, the essential tools used to maintain them remained stuck in antiquity, hindering priests during important rituals and daily use.
Services Rendered
Research and Development
User interviews (ie. comprehensive personas)
Process mapping (ie. end to end user journeys)
User-driven product requirements
Competitor product analysis
Design and Creation
Prototyping Software (low fidelity) (eg. Balsamiq)
Hand-drawn industrial designs
Photoshop renderings (ie. customer feedback)
Solidworks with PLM (ie. Complete rendering and creation)
Our Approach
User-Centered Research and Design
We began with an immersive, human-centered approach, working closely with the church’s priests to observe their candle-handling rituals in real settings. This ethnographic research revealed critical pain points and opportunities to streamline the process. Understanding the practical and ceremonial context was key to designing a tool that honored tradition while enhancing usability.
Safety and Standards Collaboration
Recognizing the critical importance of safety in tools involving open flames, we partnered with a leading grill lighter company to ensure our design met the highest safety standards. We rigorously aligned our work with UL standards for lighters, with a particular focus on:
Child Resistance: Implementing mechanisms that prevent a significant percentage of children from activating the flame, which automatically reset and are resistant to bypass.
Flame and Structural Integrity: Compliance with ASTM F400 and F2201 standards to ensure reliable flame control, prevent hazards like spitting or flaring, and guarantee structural durability against impacts.
Regulatory Compliance: Adhering to Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regulations concerning disposable and novelty lighters, including clear safety instructions and warnings.
Rapid Prototyping and Testing
To accelerate development and validate our designs, we used clear SLA 3D printing for rapid iteration. This allowed us to test for internal collisions and ergonomic fit early and often, providing the client with a near-final physical model to trial in real-world applications. Feedback from these hands-on tests informed refinements, ensuring the final product was both practical and safe for everyday use.
The Result
The result was more than a redesign—it was a thoughtful reinvention. The new multi-tool simplified candle maintenance for priests, improving their experience without compromising the sacred traditions underpinning the tools’ use. Through strategic collaboration and adherence to rigorous safety standards, the tool set a new benchmark for reliability and child safety in flame tools.
By blending tradition, innovation, and safety, this project successfully bridged centuries of history with modern usability and compliance.