About Us

Beeswax Candles

Who I am.

I’m Claire and I set out on my candle adventure in January 2022.  After a rewarding yet challenging twenty year career teaching in inner city London schools, I always dreamt of doing something a little different. Working relentlessly to achieve every child’s full potential was both exhilarating yet all-consuming and one thing that always brought me calm was lighting a candle in the evening. The gentle, mesmerising quality of their light makes them the perfect aid for any meditation, relaxation or a beautiful dinner with family and friends.

It felt like a such a natural path to develop the best-in-class candles for health, environment, light, wick and wax.  After 6 months of intense research and testing, I discovered that hand poured Beeswax Candles are the ultimate solution and I have perfected the artisan skills required to produce and share the joy of Beeswax with all candle lovers!

You may be wondering why I choose to work with Beeswax which is technically very difficult to work with.  Well, quite simply, the results are stunning to burn and there is something quite paranormal and magical about its light. The yellow wax glows and offers out a light that is really atmospheric and luminous. This is because Beeswax has a higher melting point than other waxes and therefore it emits the brightest, most warm-to-red flame. This also means the candles have a much longer burning time than paraffin candles.  Finally the health and environmental parameters (described in more detail below) were absolutely key and made it a very easy decision for me. 

“My Beeswax candles are truly special and are sure to bring a beautiful touch of elegance, warmth, relaxation to your home in the most environmentally conscious way possible.”


Why Pure Beeswax for Candles?

Beeswax has been around for centuries and is the oldest known wax material used for candles and is considered the cleanest burning candle wax. Beeswax is natural, free of toxins and can create tall candles that provide a slow burn.  As you may have guessed from the name, beeswax is produced by bees and more specifically honeybees (females!). The worker bees secrete wax from glands on their abdomen and derive it from honey combined with fat. The bees use this wax to build their defences and storage space in a hive (comb). Wax is a superb building material for the bees being malleable and strong but it is very expensive to produce! Every year as beekeepers extract honey, they can then refine the wax which can be used to make beautiful artisan candles.   

100% pure beeswax candles with 100% pure cotton or wood wicks are a great choice when it comes to candles. I have detailed why this is the case below. 

 

The London Beeswax Candle Company Commitments:

100% Pure Beeswax Commitment: The London Beeswax Candle company only produces 100% Beeswax Candles. Paraffin candles are made from petroleum, soy wax candles are sometime impure and many Beeswax Candles are often mixed with either soy or paraffin wax.  Beeswax is circa six times the cost of paraffin wax so many manufactures blend the Beeswax with cheaper waxes – I only produces 100% Beeswax Candles.  100% beeswax candles are eco-friendly, with no chemical process involved and are completely biodegradable.

100% Pure Cotton Wicks Commitment: The London Beeswax Candle Company only uses 100% pure cotton wicks which are both chlorine free and lead free.  Lead was routinely used for candle wicks for decades to increase upright stability.  After the health risks of lead were identified the candle industry moved away from lead use in wicks but unfortunately (or unbelievably) some candle brands still use lead and other low-grade materials!

100% Pure Wood Wicks Commitment: The London Beeswax Company only uses 100% pure wood wicks.  All pure wood wicks are sourced from Forest Stewardship Council certified mills.

100% Hand Poured and Hand-Crafted Commitment: Every single candle produced is poured by me and every piece of packaging and branding material is crafted by me!

100% Environmental Focus at Every Stage of Production and Sales Commitment: The London Beeswax Company focuses on environmental impact at every stage.  With sustainability and eco-consciousness at the heart of what I do, I didn’t want to create just any candle. From the 100% pure beeswax I use to make the candles to the pure cotton wicks to the 100% recyclable packaging to choosing 2nd class postage – all decisions have been considered and chosen on being the most environmentally friendly:

  • Packaging is sourced from local suppliers and is from both recycled and recyclable material.
  • My marketing and branding focus on the use of hand stamps and embossing to reduce the use of colour ink printing (which degrades the recyclability of packaging).
  • We use slower and more energy efficient 2nd class postage with Royal Mail (no individual courier pickups and drop offs – I walk to the post box or post office at the end of the road!).
  • Pure Beeswax reduces petroleum use from paraffin candles thus reducing carbon emissions
  • Beeswax is sourced locally from the ‘Local Honey Man’ in Walthamstow to reduce air and road miles (only 3 miles from my house!).
  • Pure cotton wicks reduce the potential of lead burning in the atmosphere.