Sixty Seconds at Canva HQ: Pitching Scent, Memory and a Craft Brand in a Tech World

On Wednesday 21 October, I left the familiar quiet of our small North London wooden shed and stepped into Canva headquarters for an evening built around a very different kind of making: shaping a story, finding its clearest words and delivering it in sixty seconds.

“Something’s Brewing at the 60-Second Club with RISER x DreamBrew” brought founders and independent professionals together for an evening of pitch preparation and recording. The format felt especially fitting: DreamBrew cans in hand, new ideas in the room, and a simple challenge at its centre. Explain what you are building, and why it matters, in a single minute.

For STANZA Artigiana, that meant finding a way to speak about scent, memory and the handmade work behind each candle without losing the feeling that makes the brand ours.

Bring the wooden shed into the room

STANZA is built around considered, tactile things: soy wax, fragrance, glass and Italian ceramics, made in small batches in North London. Our work begins with the atmosphere a person hopes to create: a welcoming room, a thoughtful gift, a moment of stillness at the end of a long day.

A sixty-second pitch asks you to distil that wider story. What do you choose to keep when every phrase must earn its place? For me, the answer was the connection between fragrance and memory: scent can call a feeling back with remarkable immediacy, while a candle gives that feeling a place in someone’s home.

My pitch included the lines:

“Scent is the fastest road to memory. Candles put it in people’s hands.”

And:

“A branded candle is not merchandise, it is a memory implant.”

They are direct statements, but they come from a deeply personal belief: that a beautifully made object can become part of the moments people remember. A candle created for a hotel, a brand or a celebration is not simply a vessel with a label. When fragrance and design are chosen with care, it can become part of the welcome, the ritual or the story someone takes home.

Discover a pitch format made for participation

The evening was hosted by RISER, a networking app centred on the sixty-second video pitch. Participants prepare a short video pitch in the app, which helps match attendees according to their profiles and what they are working on. The event itself gave us time to develop and record those pitches, rather than simply talk about the value of being concise.

That distinction mattered. Pitching is easy to describe as a performance, yet the more useful work often happens beforehand: deciding what the audience needs to understand, removing the details that obscure the main point, and finding language that sounds like you.

There is a practical lesson here for any small business preparing to introduce itself, whether at an event, in a meeting or in a first email. Begin with the human reason behind the work. Then explain what you make, who it is for and what makes your approach distinct. Keep the language clear enough to remember. Leave room for curiosity.

For STANZA, the answer is not simply “candles”. It is thoughtful fragrance and handcrafted objects designed to shape an atmosphere. It is Italian-inspired craftsmanship made in London, with small-batch production, recyclable glass, a refill service for our candles and one tree planted for every candle purchased.

Listen to the story behind DreamBrew

I also met Aimee Squibb, co-founder of DreamBrew, the coffee company whose stated idea is to make coffee that “funds dreams”. The DreamBrew story was presented during the evening, adding a tangible example of how a business can bring its purpose into the way it introduces itself.

The event’s title, “Something’s Brewing”, connected the drink in our hands with the ideas being shared around the room. DreamBrew iced lattes, including Focus and Purpose varieties, were served as attendees worked on their pitches. Coffee brought its familiar warmth and energy; the conversations turned towards ambition, creative work and the next step each person hoped to take.

Consider how a story can open a door

The HelpBnk story and its DreamFund were also presented by the Squibb team. Screens invited people to pitch their dreams and outlined a route combining a mentor session with funding. It was a reminder that a clear story can do more than introduce a business: it can help people understand an ambition and see how they might take part in it.

That idea resonates with the work we do with businesses. A bespoke candle or corporate gift can tell a story through more than a logo. Fragrance, vessel, colour, label and packaging all contribute to the impression it leaves. Considered together, they can make a welcome feel personal, help a brand become more memorable or give an event a distinctive atmosphere.

This is why we approach scent as a decorative layer and an emotional ritual, rather than an afterthought. For a boutique hotel, it might be part of the sense of arrival. For a company, it might transform a client gift into something worth keeping. For a design-led space, it can complete a room in a way that is felt before it is consciously named.

Let craft meet technology without losing its warmth

The setting offered a vivid contrast. Canva headquarters is a place associated with visual ideas and digital tools; STANZA’s world begins with hands-on materials, scent trials and the slow decisions involved in making something well. Yet the distance between those worlds felt smaller than it might seem.

Both begin with a story. Both depend on choices: what to show, what to leave out, what feeling to create and what someone should remember afterwards. Technology can help people meet and communicate; the craft is in making that communication feel specific and true.

I left with the closing line I had chosen for my pitch:

“STANZA Artigiana. Scent, made to be remembered.”

And with another thought worth carrying into any introduction:

“one introduction can change a year of work”

Make your brand memorable through scent

For founders, creatives and businesses, the sixty-second format is a useful exercise: find the heart of your story, express it simply and give people a reason to remember. For us, it was an invitation to articulate something that is usually experienced through fragrance and atmosphere.

If you are developing a branded candle, planning a considered client gift or looking for a bespoke scent that belongs to your business, we would be glad to hear what you have in mind. Explore bespoke candle creation, discover corporate gifting and business projects, or get in touch with STANZA Artigiana to begin a conversation.

Because some stories are best told in a minute. Others stay with us in the air long after the conversation has ended.