Busy as Bees

Anna Chandler Merlo and Julien DeWolfe are the most industrious 11-year-olds, I've met. They're also creative, focused, well-spoken and grateful. It's no wonder their business is taking off.

It started in DeWolfe's kitchen in 2016. They were dipping beeswax candles, something they enjoy as a fun pastime, when they realized they had a great business idea. And as Chandler Merlo says, "the Wax Studio was born."

With a startup loan from their parents, which they quickly paid back, the pair researched and sourced local beeswax, free of heavy metals and toxic compounds; all-cotton, untreated wicks; as well as vegetable-based dyes and silicon molds. They purchased old pots and pans through Kijiji to melt the wax, although they're now looking to invest in a professional wax melter.

Their first real gig was at Seedy Saturday at the Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre in Ottawa in the spring of 2017. Chandler Merlo says people were often surprised they weren't working at the booth for their parents, but meeting new people and talking to them about the benefits of beeswax candles is one of her favourite business experiences.

"It smells like honey when burning and actually purifies the air," Chandler Merlo says. Plus beeswax burns longer than parafin and soy and is naturally dripless. One of their most popular designs, the log pillars, can burn for up to 70 hours.

Learning from the other vendors at the farmers' markets and craft fairs, has also been one of the most beneficial experiences for the young entrepreneurs. "At our second fair, Alicja [Buchowicz] from Alicja's Confections spent about 30 minutes talking to us about using social media," Chandler Merlo says. "The ideas she gave us have really helped us grow the business."

The next big break came from Juniper Turgeon and Alex Mackay-Smith who were the first to carry their candles in the Juniper Farm store in Wakefield. Amanda Cockburn, founder of Freewheeling Craft's markets and a pop-up shop in Ottawa's Little Italy, soon followed suit.

"We work on most things together, but [DeWolfe] does the accounting and I do social media and a lot of the candle and table design," Chandler Merlo says. "We get together for work dates whenever we can to make the candles, share ideas and test new designs." When asked what they do with the income, she says they're investing the money and saving for university. But "business is something I find really fun and I want to continue as long as can," she adds.

The Wax Studio
thewaxstudio.ca, info@thewaxstudio.ca