Candle Shack is a luxury candle manufacturer and supplier of candle making supplies and equipment.
Established in 2010 by husband and wife team, Duncan and Cheryl MacLean, the business remains family owned and is based in central Scotland.
Cheryl and Duncan – like most entrepreneurs – started in a garage, with a melting jug, some old coffee jars and £1500 in savings; but quickly fell in love with the craft. After tinkering around at Sunday markets for a year or two, they gave up their day jobs, packed up their belongings and moved from Bristol to Larbert in 2012 with their two children to ‘have a go’. Since then, they have grown somewhat and now employ over 50 staff and occupy 63,000 sqft of space at West Carron Works, Falkirk.
All candle manufacturing takes place in West Carron, where state of the art technology and artisan craftsmanship combine to produce candles for some of the world’s leading luxury brands, including: Fornasetti, Anya Hindmarch, Votary and dozens of others. From humble beginnings in their garage, Cheryl and Duncan have become well respected within the home fragrance industry. Cheryl is currently President of the British Candlemakers Federation and Duncan sits on the technical committee. The business has also recently been accepted into the Association of European Candle Makers (AECM); a forum for larger candle manufacturers within Europe.
One of the keys to the company’s success has been the relentless pursuit of innovation. In addition to making candles, the company has created custom wax blends made from non-GMO plant based materials, wax melting tanks that can be used in the home and is now developing software that utilises machine learning to help small candle makers to produce safer candles. The business will also be running candle making courses and hopes to open a Factory Shop around April 2020.
The other thing Duncan and Cheryl are passionate about is building engaged communities. They have an online Facebook Community Group of over 5,000 candle makers who support each other and provide advocacy for the business. This is an excellent starting point for anybody interested in making their own candles at home, or starting a Candle Business.
Candle Shack, a member of Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce, has created almost 50 jobs in the last 5 years and plans to recruit at least 20 more people in the next 2-3 years and achieve annual revenues of £10m by 2022. The business also supports a multitude of small Scottish start-ups, helping them to develop high quality products and create jobs in local communities up and down the country. In fact, Candle Shack currently supports over 6,000 small home fragrance businesses across Europe.
To learn more about candle making, join the Facebook Community Group – Candle Shack Community – or pop along to West Carron from April and attend a course.
To find about Forth Valley Chamber membership, visit forthvalleychamber.co.uk/ or call 01786 448 333.
