A Hand-Made Tale

Hey everyone, Gabe here!

It's not Sunday, but I got a confession to share.

When we started Embrace Candles, we didn’t plan to make them by hand.

What we really wanted was to build a powerful brand.

Something we could feel proud of and connected to.

In a city full of franchises, we wanted a build something that felt "homegrown".

And to do that, we figured we’d focus on the money making part: design, storytelling, and brand.

We’d leave the actual candle-making to the experts.

You know, people who already knew how to do it really well.

So we went big.

We partnered with a manufacturer in China, developed our first three fragrances, and invested thousands of dollars to make what we thought would be our first high-end candle line.

We thought we were being smart by skipping the messy learning curve and going straight for the finish line.

Turns out, the shortcut WAS the messy part.

When the candles arrived, they looked the part.

Butwhen we lit them... well, let’s just say they didn’t exactly “change the feeling of a room.”

The burn was uneven, the scent throw was weak, and the quality simply didn’t match what we wanted our brand to stand for.

It was a hard moment.

We had put so much money and time into an idea that suddenly didn’t feel right.

So we did the only thing we could do, we started over.

I bought Sara a candle-making kit, “Let’s just see if you like doing this,” I said.

She poured her first few candles on our kitchen counter, and almost instantly, she was hooked.

The candle making wasn't what pulled her in.

Experimenting with fragrances, blending scents to see what worked and what didn’t, that's where her creativity came alive.

It came naturally to her.

However crafting fragrances is only a part of making a candle.

The process wasn’t easy.

We had to learn everything from scratch.

Wick sizes, wax blends, melt points, container types, colorants, cooling temps, fragrance load, all the little things that separate a good candle from a great one.

But with each test, each adjustment, each night spent perfecting the next pour, we got better.

And before long, we had our first collection: The Self-Care Collection.

Seeing our success changed everything.

We stopped thinking like a brand trying to sell candles and started thinking like craftspeople serving our community.

We realized that our customers didn’t just want to buy candles; they wanted to connect with the people who made them.

And from that moment forward, everything we did, from expanding into room sprays, soaps, and body oils, was rooted in that philosophy: Listen to the people.

Create what they want.

And of course, make it by hand.

The truth is, we didn’t choose the handmade path, it kind of grabbed us by the apron and said, “Guess what? You’re candle makers now.”

What started as a setback became the best mistake we ever made.

Now, every candle that leaves our studio at Lowe Mill carries more than wax and fragrance, it carries our story.

A story of creativity, learning, and a whole lot of figuring things out as we go.

Handmade isn’t just how we make things.

It’s how we stay grounded.

It’s how we stay connected to our craft, to our customers, and to this community that keeps showing up for us.

— Gabe

Embrace Candles | Co-Founder | Crafting Atmosphere, One Candle at a Time