The first time we saw a piece of dried cinnamon bark curled into a tube, we thought of a cup. It is naturally round, thick-walled, smooth inside and ridged outside like real bark, because it is real bark. From that thought to a candle jar that could stand on a table was quite a long way, and that way is the story of this page.
ZUNGZA's cinnamon cups are made from cinnamon bark gathered from households and craft groups in Tra Mi and Tra Bong, Quang Ngai, under purchase agreements and framework contracts. The bark is cleaned, dried and shaped, then lined inside to hold the wax before the ZUNGZA-blended soy wax is poured. The cinnamon cup line comes with a lid, 125g.
A cinnamon tree needs fifteen years to give a piece of bark thick enough
Cinnamon is a tree of time. To get bark thick enough to become the body of a cup, growers usually wait ten to fifteen years, and in some places longer. Thin bark smells lighter and curls easily; thick bark holds its shape and holds its scent longer, which makes choosing the bark the step that decides the whole cup.
Tra Mi and Tra Bong have been tied to the cinnamon tree for a very long time — so much so that the name of the region and the name of the tree travel together among fragrance traders. We work with the people there in the simplest way: ordering steadily, recording the origin clearly, and only working together with their consent. For us this has always been the matter of a craft community, never just a product idea.
Why does a cup matter so much
In a candle, the cup does more work than it appears to. It holds the wax, conducts the heat, decides the diameter of the melt pool, and with it how widely or narrowly the scent travels. The thick wall of cinnamon bark holds heat slowly and evenly, so the melt pool opens gently and the scent rises little by little instead of bursting out and then fading.
And there is one more thing only cinnamon bark can do. As the cup warms, the body of the cup gives off scent too. It is real cinnamon — warm, slightly sweet at the end — sitting beneath the wax fragrance like a base. Which means you are burning a candle whose vessel is part of the scent as well.
Form learnt from the mountains
We let beauty sit in the proportions, in the real surface of the material, and in just enough line for the hand to hold it comfortably. The cinnamon cup has a steady shape, a base slightly wider than the mouth; seen from the side it looks like a mountain in miniature. That feeling of steadiness is what we want, because an object placed in a home should put people at ease.
The surface of the cup keeps the bare character of bark, so each one has its own grain, its own colour and, here and there, very fine cracks following the fibre. This is normal for a natural material, and it is why no two cups are ever identical.
A few questions you often send us
Does the cinnamon cup have a lid
Yes. The cinnamon cup line comes with a lid, which helps hold the scent for the next burn and keeps dust off the surface of the wax.
Where does the cinnamon bark come from
From households and craft groups in Tra Mi and Tra Bong, Quang Ngai, under purchase agreements and framework contracts.
What can the cup be used for once the candle is finished
Wash out the remaining wax and let it dry; the cup works as a holder for pins or small jewellery, or simply sits bare on a shelf as an object that still carries a faint cinnamon scent.
If you would like to read further, there is the story of the fifteen-year cinnamon tree, the journey of a piece of bark to the workshop, and why three cups learnt their form from the mountains.