Meet the Makers: Founder’s Favorites

When we started CandleCraft Collective, it wasn’t because we were candle experts. It was because we couldn’t find what we were looking for: a candle that felt personal — like it belonged in our space, not just any space.

We’re Michael and Stephen — partners in life and in this wild little business. By day, we come from two very different worlds: Michael’s background is in finance and entrepreneurship, always dreaming up ventures and building the infrastructure to bring them to life. Spreadsheets, legal docs, operating models — that’s his comfort zone. Stephen, on the other hand, is the tech guy. If there’s code involved, he’s already written it. He’s the one who made our scent quiz real, translating ideas into the systems that power everything we do.

Candle-making started as a creative outlet — a way to make our house feel like home. We loved the idea of crafting a scent that captured a moment, a mood, a memory. But every time we tried to buy a custom candle, we were asked: “What scents do you like?” That’s a big question. Too big, honestly. We didn’t want to build the candle — we wanted someone to see us and create it for us.

So we did what came naturally: built a system to do just that. A scent quiz grounded in logic and weighted choices, designed to deliver a fragrance that feels like you.

Now, we gift candles when we visit friends. We light them when we cook dinner, clean the house, unwind from the day. They’ve become a part of our rhythm — and we’re careful about what we burn. Transparency matters. We don’t trust vague “fragrance oils” or unclear labels. So we chose materials we believe in. No shortcuts. No guesswork. No mystery ingredients.

CandleCraft Collective is still a small operation — just the two of us, doing the work we love. But it’s grown into something bigger than we imagined: a way to help others feel a little more at home in their own space.

Thanks for being part of it.
— M & S