Our Story
We are why Beeswax Works. There's a moment, most evenings, when someone strikes a match and the room changes. Our job is to make the candle for that moment. Yours is to put it in front of the person who'll take it home. This page is about how we do our part, and why it makes yours easier.
Three words sit on our logo: Pure ~ Simple ~ Light. They describe the wax we use, the way we work, and what your customer gets for their money.
Who has made Beeswax Works candles since 1994?
Richard began it in 1994. He hand-dipped tapers and hand-poured pillars on the west coast of British Columbia: small batches, traditional chandlery, beeswax and a cotton wick.
Jill carried it from 2012. A chance conversation in a garden turned into a chandler's apprenticeship. Jill Smith and her partner Bruce learned the old skills from Richard himself and, trading then as Bees Wax Works, grew it over a decade from Salt Spring Island to Ladysmith.
Ron took it on in July 2023. He met Jill in 2021 through a wholesale order. He kept bees and wanted to learn wax. When Jill and Bruce were ready for quieter days, he took the business on and brought it over the mountains to Revelstoke.
Three owners have each changed where the candles are made. None of us has changed how, or why. For a stockist, that means the candle you reorder is the one your customers already know.
Why does it matter that a beekeeper runs Beeswax Works?
Ron has kept bees commercially since 2013, and founded BeeKind Honey Bees in 2019 before taking on Beeswax Works. Years in the field teach you what good wax looks like, and which beekeepers do the work properly.
We buy our beeswax from Canadian beekeepers, and we know the people producing it. It isn't the cheapest wax available. It's the wax we'd burn at home, and the wax we're comfortable putting your shop's name behind.
Pure: what's on your shelf
"Pure" refers to the wax. Our candles are pure Canadian beeswax with a cotton wick.
The colour is the wax's own, running from deep honey to pale gold, influenced by the forage available to the bees. We don't try to make every candle identical, so a small shift in the gold from one order to the next is part of the product. Over time a beeswax candle may also develop bloom, a soft, pale film on the surface of the wax. It doesn't change how the candle burns.
Both are easy to explain at the counter. We've written the answers for your staff in our FAQs and our Candle Care guide.
Simple: how we work
We make our candles ourselves, and they're made in Canada. Wax and wicking come into the studio in Revelstoke, and finished candles go out: we dip the tapers, pour the pillars, set the tea lights and votives, and pack the boxes.
Our year has a shape: quieter through spring, busy from August, flat out by November. That's why we ask stockists to plan holiday orders early, and why we're straight about lead times rather than promising what a small studio can't deliver.
Simple also means a clear range. We build our collections around the core shapes, so the tapers, pillars, tea lights and votives your customers rely on are there all year. Seasonal and decorated designs rotate, giving your shelf something new without replacing what sells.
Light: why it earns its place
A beeswax candle repays a little attention. Burned well, with a long first burn, a wick trimmed to about 1/4 inch and no draft, it gives steady light for a long time. Each product page lists an estimated burn time, so your customers can see the hours they're buying.
That's what we mean by a high-value candle. Not expensive. Worth it. And a candle that's worth it is one your customers come back for.
Where are Beeswax Works candles sold?
Our stockists are how a small mountain-town maker reaches a country this size. We supply Main Street shops, boutiques, gift and home decor stores and independent retailers across Canada, and we'd rather do that properly than quickly: a real person on the phone, honest lead times, and candles that match what's on the product page.
A small business, plainly
We're a small Canadian business in a stretch that hasn't been easy for small Canadian businesses. Costs have moved. What that has done is sharpen where we put our effort: closer to home, with Canadian shops, growing at a pace we can hold. We'd rather do fewer things properly and stand behind every one of them.
Everyday light, not occasional light
We don't think candles are for special occasions. That's how a good candle ends up in a cupboard. Ours are for the supper table on an ordinary Tuesday, the long middle of a Canadian winter, a gift that gets used, and the night the power goes out. A candle that gets used gets bought again, and that's good for your shop and ours. See how customers use them on Everyday Light, or browse the full range.
Pure ~ Simple ~ Light
One vision, three owners, since 1994. Made by hand, from Canadian wax, by people you can name.
Read more about Beeswax Works Wholesale.