Northern Ireland candlemaker takes off as products go on sale to an international market at Belfast airport

Dawn-Marie, who lives in Claudy with her husband and two daughters, started making candles during lockdown. After taking a big leap of faith, Dawn-Marie is now stocking a number of shops throughout the city, as well as selling to huge markets in the City of Derry Airport and now Belfast International Airport.

Dawn-Marie said: “I saw an amazing article in a magazine I subscribe to about a company who are making candles out of reused wax. I thought making candles sounded quite fun so I found a company just outside of Belfast who were doing candle-making starter kits. I ordered it, made them, loved it, ordered another set and made more.

"I then started going round the house, picking up old jars and things. I was putting crystals on top and giving them away to everyone and anyone. People started bringing their vessels back, then, asking me to refill them before my husband told me I was spending a fortune. I had one of those moments, in around September 2021, where I realised I had to either go hard or go home. I could either give it a go or I would stop altogether and forget about it.

"I ended up going and buying a domain name, Tenfire. I then knew I had to buy an online shop and teach myself how to build a website. I had a friend design the logo and just thought to give it a go. I’ve tried really hard to make sure all the products I use are eco friendly as much as possible, but you can’t use old vessels like I had been because there’s safety risks around certain vessels that can explode if they’re not right. I decided that I would go with tins and wax bags for wax melts.”

Since then Dawn-Marie has been selling in many of the local markets and has also branched out into retail.

“I have done quite a few of the Walled City Markets, which have been phenomenal for me, and then I started to approach retailers. The Walled City Crafters were the first to take me on, and then I got into Graze2U, when they were in Newbuildings. As a result of the Walled City Crafters, the Omagh Craft Collectors got involved as well as Altnagelvin Garden Centre and Costcutters in Claudy.

"Someone had mentioned about Allster, who’s idea is to gather crafters throughout Northern Ireland. On New Year’s Eve, we were flying to England for holiday. When we were in the Airport, we popped into the shop and spoke to the person behind Allster. After some back and forth, he gave me a spot in the shop but I had to make the display myself.

”It feels phenomenal to see my candles in the airport now. Even walking around shops here and I see my candles, I have to pinch myself. For someone like me to have taught every aspect of this to myself is amazing. Sometimes I look at the website and think ‘I did that’! All of this journey has been such an incredible learning curve.”

"For anyone thinking about starting their own business, the thing I would say to them is what’s the worst that can happen? If it doesn’t work, well at least you’ve tried. If you don’t try, the answers always going to be no.”

"Try and see if it feels good. What amazes me now is, even at the weekend, I’m still thinking about how I can do better, what I can do next and business plans for the future. If you find something that you think about every day, then don’t ever give up. I do, I get really excited when I'm talking about candles and that just shows and I still love when someone posts a picture of one of my candles burning.”

Dawn-Marie has since expanded her business to make private label candles for businesses who want to introduce their own brand of candle.