About
The specialist in vintage modular candle holders since 2013.
A small Strasbourg business founded by Hugo Payet: vintage modular candle holders and the candles that fit them.
New name
Des Bougies pour Nagel becomes Modulolux
In 2027, we are moving to a more international name: one that works in any language and covers every modular candle holder, not just Nagel.
Only the name is changing:
- the same team, still based in Strasbourg
- the same products: new and vintage candle holders, candles and Bees beeswax candles
- the same service: in-stock items packed within 24 hours
Our story
It all started in a second-hand shop
In 2011, Hugo opened Polychrome, a vintage shop in the heart of Strasbourg. Nagel and BMF tripod candle holders were hugely popular there, and customers kept asking him where to find candles for them.
At the time, these candle holders had been largely forgotten, and with their very specific dimensions, compatible candles were simply impossible to find. So Hugo set out to find a manufacturer who could supply quality new candles that were:
- a perfect fit for Nagel and BMF candle holders
- close in look to the original candles of the era
- available in a range of colours
- compliant with European standards and safety tests
When it launched in 2013, the shop had just 5 products: Nagel candle holders, BMF candle holders and candles in 3 colours. Today there are around sixty, new and second-hand, including our Bees candles in pure beeswax, hand-poured in our workshop.
Hugo Payet
Founder · vintage dealer at heart
A lover of design from the 1950s to the 70s, Hugo opened Polychrome, a vintage furniture and homeware shop in Strasbourg, in 2011. Two years later he launched Des Bougies pour Nagel, devoted to the modular tripod candle holders of the 1970s.
A passion to share
Facts from period sources
Reliable information on vintage modular candle holders is hard to come by, online or in specialist books. Dealer and auction listings are often wrong: Nagel mixed up with BMF, the design credited to the wrong person (Ceasar Stoffi instead of Werner Stoff)…
Everything we know comes from years of our own research, using period sources only: 1970s magazines and adverts, original boxes and paperwork, some of which you'll see in our photos.
The shop
