Looking to light up your home space with a locally-made candle? Here in Metro Vancouver there are a number of contenders worth us shining a light on.
Featuring a number of brands who take pride in using quality ingredients, creating handmade products, and supporting a number of worthy causes, here are eight Vancouver candle companies made right here in the city or in surrounding communities.
Mala
Mala's soy wax candles come in fun scents like Mimosa (mandarin, grapefruit, and red currant), Garden Party (agave, chrysanthemum, and eucalyptus), and Strawberry Shortcake. They also plant a tree with every purchase made.
Homecoming
These elegant jarred candles are made with all natural soy wax, lead and zinc free cotton wicks, and a blend of premium essential and phthalate-free fragrance oils. Additionally, Homecoming's candles are 100% vegan, cruelty-free, and free of petroleum and preservatives. This made-in-Vancouver brand's lineup features evocative scents with complex and often herbal or spice notes, like Amber + Bitter Orange, Firewood + Saffron, and Black Tea + Pepper. As an immediate incentive, Homecoming is donating 10% of their sales for the month of June 2020 to Vancouver's Hogan's Alley Society.
You + Me Candles
Made from apricot and coconut wax in their Vancouver studio, You + Me's candles feature perfume grade fragrance oils and cotton wicks. Handmade from start to finish, all of their products are cruelty-free and vegan, too. Founder Patty Abbott says she launched the brand after working to remove toxins from her home, and looking for a clean-burning candle. The scents in her line-up are inspired by memories, featuring "smells from childhood, travel and the natural scents from nature." Those scents include A Walk in the Woods (pine and balsam), and Mina (orange, berries, tangerines, and smoked vanilla) which was inspired by breakfast cereal and an iconic local drag queen.
West End Wicks
Here's a candle biz born out of our times - the COVID-19 era. Launched in March 2020 and based in Vancouver's - you guessed it - West End, this local newcomer to the candle game makes 100% soy wax candles, inspired by the birds of Vancouver, like Heron, Crow, Hummingbird, and Chickadee. Their candle tins are reusable and returns/refills of West End Wicks tins are accepted. $1 from each candle sold from the Birds of Vancouver Collection will be donated to the Wildlife Rescue Association of British Columbia.
Hollow Tree
We're journeying a little bit out of Vancouver and up the Sea to Sky to Whistler for Hollow Tree, a candle company that has its own manifesto about the importance of honouring our trees. The brand says they are "about sharing the love and the magic of the Pacific West Coast’s impossible fairy tale forests with you." Look for scents like The Lions from their Library of Trees collection, named for the North Shore mountains featuring alpine fir, balsam, and cypress. Or there's the whole Backpacker Series, inspired by B.C.'s incredible outdoor adventure locales, like Shannon Falls, or meadows of fireweed.
Canvas Candle Co.
Canvas Candle Company was founded in 2016, in Port Moody. Their candles are made using 100% North American grown soy wax, phthalate free fragrance oils, as well as pure essential oils, natural cotton wicks, and reusable vessels. Their "#vacay" candle will sweep you right out of a Vancouver Juneuary with its blend of pineapple, coconut and sweet basil. Or you can celebrate being exactly where we are with "Best Coast" and its blend of evergreen, cedarwood, and vetiver.
BC Candles
Based out of Richmond, BC Candles specializes in beeswax candles. Launched earlier this year, this is a candle biz that's focused on their product and their cause, and how they are profoundly linked. Their round beeswax candles are made in Vancouver, and are about the design and the ingredients - not a scent. Here's how they explain their mission: "BC Candles is proud to support Pollinator Partnership Canada (P2C). Together with North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC), they are dedicated to protection and promotion of pollinator health through conservation, education and research. Our ongoing support goes towards providing newly restored pollinator habitat."
The 6th Scent Candle
Langley-based 6th Scent is the side project of a local early childhood education specialist, who says "having a candle in my room brings out the best in the environment and inspires me to be a better teacher." Her soy wax candles come in tins and jars, in scents like Apple Cinnamon, Coffee Bean, and a few inspired by another great B.C. product: Wine!
BONUS: Want to make your own candles? Support local and shop at Wicks and Wax, a company with roots in the beeswax biz dating back to 1959. They stock 25 kinds of paraffin and microcrystalline waxes, soy waxes, and other palm oil based products. They also sell wicks, molds, and scents to help you get started. Many of the above local small businesses also offer candle-making kits to get you started, too. Light it up!
