Cheers for Queers: Queer Candle Co.

Al Rose (Left) and Ab (right) smile while standing in front of a shelf of their products

Dedicated to Tomato, the cat. 

Ab Gibson (they/them) and Al Rose (she/her), longtime couple and graduates of Fordham University never expected or set out to make candles for a living after college, but they’re doing just that in their dual Brooklyn and Philadelphia studios after stints in their respective fields. Queer Candle Co. (QCC) is the lovechild that was birthed after Ab and Al discovered their mutual love for candle-making whilst playing around with a kit that Ab got Al for Christmas and the rest is, how we say, history. 

The Flower drying process

On an overcast Saturday in January, Ab and Al sat down with me via Zoom to chat about all things queer and candles. Brushing off their wax-covered computer, we got down to business. Al was sitting in front of the camera in their Fort Greene studio, getting ready to chat while Ab finished up a batch of candles, topping off their latest scent at the time (January 2021)—Dark Plum—with tiny purple flowers.

Ab rushes over to take a seat next to Al, “I am all yours. Sorry about that!” The two are still recovering physically and mentally from the holiday season when candles are obviously a hot commodity. After clarifying who was who, Ab and Al both being fairly androgynous names, they mention that their nicknames are for business purposes. “No one in our personal lives really calls us that,” Al says, “My name is Alyssa. I've always just been called my name, but then when we started dating, Ab just started calling me Al, and so…”

“And it stuck. Yeah and Ab and Al rolls off the tongue and sounds cute together,” Ab jumps in. The two chuckle, “It’s our couple name.” 

The pair have been together for almost 6 years, but didn’t actually start dating until two years of friendship had passed, just three weeks before Ab graduated--a bit of an anomaly in the queer community. Ab and Al studied at Fordham University in different classes--Ab in the Class of 2016 and Al in the Class of 2017. 

Al (left) and Ab (Right) pose for a selfie

With their age difference, opposite majors, and typically running in different circles, Ab and Al serendipitously met on a college trip. Banding together with their friend Brian, the pair got to know each other fairly well and upon their return became smitten with one another over time. Ab had been involved in the school’s theater scene, performing improv and stand up comedy while Al had a passion for social justice, planning school trips, and running a small business. That being said, they didn’t have overlapping friend groups. Must’ve been fate. 

Neither Ab nor Al was out in any capacity before meeting one another. “We've both changed a lot since college. So since, you know, we were friends for two years and now we've been together for so long, it very much feels like we've grown up together,” Ab explains. “And [we’ve] grown into ourselves together because neither of us were out, like in any capacity when we even became friends. We just were kind of like…” 

"Like really good friends,” Al jumps in, infused with sarcasm.

“We were just, like, really good friends and didn't understand it for a really long time,” Ab continues, matching Al’s sarcasm. “[There’s] a little side story that doesn't necessarily have bearing, but I used to live off campus and Al lived on campus and she had a washer/dryer in her building, so I would take all my laundry from my apartment every week and do my laundry in her building so that I could hang out at her apartment with her for like…”

A variety of candles get their wicks and dry in the studio

“All day…” Al says. 

“Like 10 hours,” Ab continued and they both burst out laughing. “I would just be like, ‘I have to do my laundry, so we have to hang out ALL day.’ It was literally once a week. Like how many clothes do I actually go through? Like I wear the same sweatshirt everyday, but I needed to do my laundry, so...Anyways, yeah.”

And it took a nudge from Al’s roommate at Fordham to convince her to profess her love for Ab which she did just outside of her dorm. The two began dating after this brave declaration. It wasn’t until two solid years of dating before the pair started Queer Candle Co. The same month that they decided to move in together was when Queer Candle Co. began. 

Before becoming candle connoisseurs, Ab had worked in television, utilizing their double major in Sociology and Communications with a concentration in Film, dabbling in the world of reality television and more scripted work on the likes of NBC and HBO. Al, on the other hand, studied Anthropology in school and had worked in programming at a non-profit in New York. As of August 2021, Al has successfully transitioned to full-time candles. (Go Al!)

Queer Candle Co. started as a personal hobby and eventually an experimental stint on Instagram in August of 2018, selling their homemade candles in small batches through DMs. And to the couple’s surprise–it was a hit. They sold out of their initial stock in about 24 hours. It was at that point that they knew candle-making had the potential to be a full-time business and career opportunity for the both of them. 

Eventually they opened an Etsy shop that September and from there came their own personal website and their business was in full-bloom. They initially started selling the candles to help pay rent and to save up money to travel, but now they don’t have the spare time, both working seven days a week to keep up with QCC.

The Sylvia Rivera Law Project logo

So what makes their candles queer, you might ask? Well, for starters, both Ab and Al personally identify as queer, but the brand’s queerness extends far past their individual identities, aiming to be a brand that continuously gives back to some of the most vulnerable people within our community. With every candle that is sold, you can guarantee that 10% of your purchase will be donated to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project that works to "guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence." 

I was curious to know how else queerness is infused in their business which prompted the question:

How do y'all personally feel queerness is incorporated into your business model. Anything in addition to the donations to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project?

AG: Yeah. So I think that the way that we started plays into that a little bit, like trying to start small so that we're not living outside of our means. We  immediately were donating when we started the business. That was one of the only things that we planned ahead [of time] was that we want to be able to give to our community what we can. We started donating right from the beginning, so we've never allowed ourselves to take money without giving money [back to the community]. And not that it’s only about money, but we don't feel like we have a claim to this name [Queer Candle Co. without donating to the community]. It's not like we feel like we owe it to the community, but we feel like we want to be a part of this community, feel connected to it, and be able to grow a community.

AR: And making [money] under our name.

AG: Exactly. Making money under our name. We want to make sure that we're—in every step of the way—as connected to and supporting the community as we can. We also want to grow our customer base as people who not only support the queer community and not only are a part of the queer community, but also feel like their dollars are going back into the community. We [are] absolutely privileged with this...I'm part of this one marginalized community, [but] we absolutely have privilege. Like look at our level of education. Even though we didn't go to business school.

AR: We went to an expensive private university. And we graduated in four years at the time when you usually go to college. We're very privileged people.

AG: And I think our queerness has helped us with that perspective in just being like, "We need to be checking ourselves at every level and supporting who and what we can along the way." 

A QCC Oat Milk Candle close up

AR: We like to be very mindful about the types of businesses we're supporting, where we're spending money, and how we're investing in the economy. Voting with our dollar is important. That's the brand ethos that we've developed. We want there to be transparency in where [the customer’s] money goes when they're buying one of our products. And making space for queer business within this capitalist system that we're all caught in. And I don't [think we] necessarily fully thought it through when we decided to call ourselves Queer Candle Co. because, you know, every time you go to a market, people's dad's kind of rumble as they walk by sometimes which can be frustrating, but I think that bringing that visibility is really important to me.

By choosing the name Queer Candle Co., Ab and Al knew that they would be limiting the number of shops that would be willing to stock their product, some retailers being turned off by the visible queerness of the brand. “I think it definitely limits our presence with retailers most of all, I would say. Gift shops all over the country stock a bunch of candles and only very specific retailers will go with us. But that's what we deal with to really stick around,” Al explained. 

But by knowing who isn’t interested, it allows the couple to understand the company values of those who actively choose to stock their wares. “It makes it easier to weed out those people who wouldn't want us in their shop because we're a queer couple who’s making the candles. So I'm not mad if they don't want [the candles] in their shop. We don't want to be in their shop,” Ab said. 

Ab handles candles at an NYC Market

“Yeah. It's like a very political statement to carry our candles, which we're good with,” Al added.  

“And we also don't offer private label for that reason because if a company wants our candles that we have made and only wants their name on it, then they are not beholden to our values,” Ab continued. “[It's] not necessarily that they [don’t] support our community, but all they're doing is giving us money to make candles and putting whatever they want on it. And then also they could sell it to people who don't support the community and that's the whole point is that if you're buying this candle then you are either in the community, you're supporting your friend [who's in the community], etc.” 

Though being a queer business has its detriments, the visibility that the name Queer Candle Co. provides has enabled Ab and Al to connect deeply and honestly with other members of the queer community involved in the makers market and flea market scenes. 

“I think one thing that has been such positive on top of that is, not that we're ever trying to forget that we're queer or put our identities aside, but our community has uplifted us so much so, that it's like we were proud before. [But] we are levels...At least I am levels above that now, just feeling the support from folks [who] not only support us as a business, but support us as a couple and have been so welcoming,” Ab remarked. 

[In 2019] we started to participate in Brooklyn Queer Flea and that community has just been so awesome because it's a whole community of [queer] makers and small business people. It’s felt so comforting to me. Just [meeting] people who are sort of similar to us, [who’ve] felt a little bit crushed under capitalism.”

Don’t get them wrong. They both love being a part of standard markets, but Brooklyn Queer Flea has been both empowering and comforting for the couple and makes them feel more connected with the queer community. 

Sweet Grapefruit & Mint (Left), Fig & Vine (Center), and Earth (right) candles

“We might not make some sales that we might otherwise [would] have if we went with a different kind of name, but people will come up to our booth whenever we're at a market and I think it makes folks feel comfortable and represented. And you don't see a lot of visibly queer businesses out there...Other than Big Gay Ice Cream, right?,” Al explained to me. 

The pair mention that there are a handful of other visibly queer businesses, but not a ton. “Any time I find a queer business I didn't know about on Instagram, it's just like, my heart skips a little beat,” Ab said. 

“And I'm 10 times more likely to buy something from them,” Al added. 

In addition to being more visible to other queer businesses and creating connections with individuals in the queer community, being named Queer Candle Co. has had an effect on the number of Pride promotions that QCC is asked to be a part of. Larger companies will often do a broad Instagram search, find QCC, and reach out to them because it’s the “gayest name they could find” according to Ab. 

And when it comes to the political aspect of being a queer business, you won’t see them posting blanket political statements on their social media pages, but rather reposting content from creators who are more knowledgeable about particular subjects, putting their money where their mouth is, and making donations to causes that they find near and dear, working within a system that runs on the dollar. 

“Also in that same sense, we have decided that it makes more of a statement for us to just send our money automatically. Like we always do the 10% to SRLP, but throughout the year, instead of just posting blanket political statements, it's more effective for us to, without fanfare, just give money to the organizations that need it because our followers…[the donations] tell them how we feel about XYZ,” Ab said about QCC’s political stance. 

“We are trusting ourselves to allocate the funds we have effectively,” Al said. 

Interior Shot of the QCC Brooklyn studio in fort greene

“And we think we're accountable to our community in that way because if they're trusting us with their money in trying to support us, not only our community, but also anything else that we could possibly support–like we just should give money [to the organizations and causes],” Ab continued. 

In the interim, since our interview in January of 2021, Queer Candle Co. has become staple to a number of retailers country-wide. From Montana and Iowa to the likes of New York State and Vermont, Queer Candle Co. is making a waxy-splash on the candle market. Wick-ed, right?

So what was it like starting a business from scratch? Like what's been your favorite part of running QCC?

AG: We get along really well, but we've never had anything in common. Like we went on the trip together.

Ab and Al both agree that they’re very different people. 

AG: We didn't like the same type of movies or books or whatever. And that's definitely merged a little bit more now after being together this long. But QCC was the first thing that we really had together where it was like, ‘This is our hobby and something that we both enjoy [together].’

AR: Yeah. I mean, I'm not educated in business at all, but it's really fun to grow a business and kind of figure out, ‘Okay, what's next?’ And I think that's probably what I enjoy the most is learning to scale it and seeing it be successful together. It's just amazing that we've built something that we get to work on together. 

AG: I don't know that at the moment it was like a thought that we had to do it this way, but I do think in retrospect, it was really smart to start as small as we did. We didn't try to build a brand ahead of time, get funding, and make it a thing. We were like, ‘Okay. This is how much money we both can spend right now to make this happen. Let's do our best to start and see where it goes.’ So we've never produced outside of our means, which is a way that a lot of other candle brands do it. Like you take off work...Stop working for six months and focus on candles and then launch your business. And for us it was like, ‘We can each put in $400 right now. Let's start a business.’ We just started tiny. You know what I mean? Start tiny and then now the candles are paying for themselves. We covered those costs immediately, so we've never been [in the] negative. And I think starting small and understanding our limits early was how we've been able to do that. 

A Sweet grapefruit & mint Candle surrounded by flowers and herbs grown by QCC

AR: For us. That's kind of the opposite of how most companies grow. 

AG: It's not for everyone. Because we also pretty immediately were like, ‘We're just going to be willing to do all of the work to cut costs as much as possible.’ And work at the same time. And so we were able to make it happen. 

AR: Yeah! And you see exponential growth eventually, which is nice [seeing] the investment in time and energy pay off. 

Though they started small and ushered themselves onto the candle scene, the two don’t recommend going in without a plan. Understanding that candles are a product that every consumer has heard of without the introduction of a totally new item or service was what led them to just begin the business without much concrete planning. Ab and Al have yet to have “the talk” about where to take their business yet. “We're a ‘very fly by the seat of your pants’ operation,” Al said. 

“Yeah. Taking it a day at a time. We haven't yet had a day to sit down and talk. There's just no time to talk about it. So we just keep going,” Ab added. “And we're not scared of money anymore because our accountant takes care of that.”

Tell me what it's like being partners in life, but also in business? Do you find that it overlaps? Do you try to keep them separate?

AR: Yeah. It's kind of hard.

AG: Just cause we started the business right at the same time as we moved in together, it's kind of always been hard to separate things.

Al (left) and Ab (right) pose for a QCC photo surrounded by plants and QCC Products

AR: You know, we don't see eye to eye on problem solving [for QCC] or whatever it may be, but it's helped us communicate better and that carries over into our personal relationship as well, so I would say it strengthens us.

AG: Yeah. I think so too, and definitely in terms of communication because we've figured out what our strengths are in terms of working together, like ‘This can be my responsibility, that can be yours,’ and we've been able to communicate that without assigning each other tasks, then when it's something [more complicated]...We can have the same type of open conversation because we've already done that about our work life, now it's our home life. 

AR: Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. We're good communicators. I would say. 

AG: Yeah. I mean everybody has their hiccups. But usually, when we have those days, it's also because we're each running on four hours of sleep and we've been working for two weeks straight without a day off...It makes sense whenever we have, not a disagreement, but whenever we just need space from each other, it's always because we've been stuck like glue together for 48 straight hours and just need to breathe. So it never comes out of nowhere. If either of us needs space, it's always just like, ‘Oh wow. I haven't even looked up or taken a breath in 24 hours. I need to just eat something and go to sleep.’ And then everything's fine. 

AR: Yeah we get pissy with each other for sure. That's definitely not a secret, but we also get over it pretty quick. 

AG: And I think for me the reason we get over it pretty quick is because it's very much a reaction to stress, not sleeping, not eating, or just working too much. And so it's easy enough to separate that out from how we're actually feeling.

DC: It seems like it's more so the stress of being in close proximity during a pandemic and getting all these things done. Not having the space to have a second to yourselves versus an actual problem within the relationship. It's just like over-exposure.

“Exactly!” Ab and Al explain in unison. 

“So I kinda want to talk about the candles because I feel like that's exciting,” I exclaimed. I'm a huge candle person. I love scents, scent stories, etc. 

A QCC Fig & Vine candle, the newest addition to the spring scents

When you're creating new scent stories and new candles in general, what inspires you to create? Like how often are you introducing new scents? How long do you keep them around? Any signatures that you've kept since the inception of the business? 

AR: We started out with five scents and I'm pretty sure we still carry most of them. 

The pair has stayed true to their roots and have kept almost all of the original scents in their repertoire to some capacity, though they do rotate out seasonal offerings as the weather changes. Think cozy fall candles or fir scents in the winter. 

  “I like to think of the seasonal scents as like a farmer's market for your nose,” Al explained. 

“Ooh! I like that,” Ab jumps in. “I think since we top our candles with different decorations, you can kind of go both ways where we're like, sometimes we'll find a really pretty wildflower that we can press a bunch of and then make a scent based on that. Or we had these beautiful strips of birch bark for a while and those have found their way onto a couple of different types of candles because we wanted to be inspired by that decoration to create some sort of scent.” 

Other times the pair will have an idea for a scent and will figure out a way to decorate it in the aftermath of the creation.

One thing is for sure: You’ll never catch them making something artificial smelling. “We both tend to like very fresh scents and so something that's important to us when we're picking out what we're going to bring into the line next are things that are true to name and authentic,” Al explains. 

No blueberry cobbler or pumpkin spice lattes for this pair. They prefer the botanical-inspired scents, opting to pull scent stories from fruits and florals. 

“[The sickeningly sweet scents are] Not really our brand,” Al says.

“Not really foody or sweet. We tend towards botanical-ish scents or if they're more food-centric, then they're as close to reality as possible. So like, Sweet Grapefruit & Mint is grapefruit, which is a food, but we put the citrus on it. Like it's sprinkled with grapefruit zest and a piece of a grapefruit. Or a little bit cinnamon-y, but it's not like that sweet, vanilla cupcake-y kind of scent.

They also tend to pick scents that they like because they have to be around them all the time during the candle-making process, smelling them 24/7. That means you can guarantee that Ab and Al stand by their product, immersed in scent for days at a time. 

“That's definitely a perk of running a business is if we don't like the scent, we can just cut it and people will be upset for two weeks and then they forget,” Ab says and we all laugh. 

“Very true,” I say. “I can imagine people are like, ‘Where's my favorite one?’ and you're like, "Well sorry. We don't like it anymore."

“Oh, I don't know what you mean?” Ab says, infused with sarcasm. “We lost it!” the pair exclaimed, “We can't find it anywhere,” Ab continued. 

After some banter about the woes of retail, Al added, “We have a lot of scents that are pretty popular so usually people will just get over it and buy a different scent.” 

When it comes to the business breakdown, Ab typically does most of the physical candle-making and Al takes on a majority of the social media, website duties, design, photos, and packaging. This is what they meant when they said they don’t assign each other tasks, they take on the responsibilities that mesh with their personal strengths, creating a seamless business model that works for them. 

QCC’s Ginger tea candle, one of Al’s favorites

So, individually, what are your favorite products? Do you have any favorite materials or scents that you like to work with? 

AG: Mine's always been Oak Musk* and we had discontinued Oak Musk for a little while because the fragrance oil was reacting with our containers in a weird way. My other favorite is Basil & Amber. We don't use dyes or additives that make the wax smoother, one color, or whatever, so we don't add a cream color dye that makes it look really nice. We try to keep them as natural as possible and sometimes certain fragrance oils–because of their natural components–when we were using tin candles instead of our glass jars– the elements in the tin were reacting weirdly with the fragrance. All that to say that, we discontinued it for a while and then switched over to glass jars and in the glass, that fragrance oil is perfect, so it's back and I love that scent. And we top that one with ferns and I think that also looks really pretty. I'm a big fan. Green is my favorite color, so it also makes sense that the candle that is topped with the green thing is my favorite. (*Oak Musk will be discontinued indefinitely due to a supplier reformulation. Grab these babies while you can!)

AR: *giggles* I have a lot of favorite scents that vary day by day. We recently, like last week,* put out a new scent called Dark Plum which I really like. It's kind of fruity and sweet. It's also got some tobacco in it. (*Dark Plum was released in January of 2021.)

Al continues with a little tangential thought about ginger-scented candles and added that Ginger Tea is one of her other favorite candle concoctions. “You never smell a ginger candle. Or I didn't before we started making them. I really like that one a lot.” 

AG: And we grate up ginger to put on those candles. I really like candles in which the decoration has some sort of scent addition as well like some of our candles, for example, our basil candle. The basil candle leaves smell before you put them on the candle, but they don't necessarily add scent to it, but like the ginger in Ginger Tea is fresh ground ginger or the zest from our Grapefruit and Mint candle. I also enjoy the procurement of the different things we put on top of it. So the ones that are the most satisfying are where we physically work to make them. We also grow all of our herbs and stuff, like the rosemary, basil, thyme, etc. It's very satisfying in the winter when we're topping all of our basil & amber candles with basil that we grew over the summer. So, I really like Basil and Amber for that reason. 

I marveled at their dedication to home-growing the candle toppers, “That's wonderful and so cool. I love that it's made at home, all the herbs, all the spices, like everything's just coming from the garden.”

AG: It's a good outlet to be able to keep gardening while we have this business because we both love plants and I think that would've fallen by the wayside a little bit if the business hadn't gotten as crazy as it was and it wasn't already integrated into [the business]. But now we gotta keep growing things because we need them for the business.

A close up of bestseller, sea salt & orchid

After inquiring about their personal favorites, it made me curious to know what the most popular scent was amongst their customers and which they thought was the most underrated. 

After a moment of frozen computer glitches, I finally heard Ab’s confirmation of the top seller. 

AG: Sea Salt & Orchid is our year-round, most popular and I think a big part of that is because it's topped with Himalayan sea salt rocks and people just like the look of that and also the smell–it's good for any room and so I think the versatility is important. That's year-round and seasonally, Winter Spruce does amazing before Christmas. That's hands down our most popular winter scent.

AR: Mhm. I think our most underrated is Ginger Tea. 

AG: I agree. Ginger Tea and Teak & Leather would be the second one. And we love both of them because they're good. Ginger Tea is a good kitchen candle which I think is an underrated type of candle. Teak & Leather is woodsy and musky with tones of tobacco leaf for a bit of a kick–it’s also Al's personal favorite at the moment. 

Most people want a candle in the bedroom or the bathroom. The bathroom for obvious reasons. 

We all burst into fits of giggles. 

AG: Especially if you're a smelly little cat [in reference to Tomato]. But I love a kitchen candle, one that sort of evokes the smell of food without being specifically foody. Like we said before, we don't really like those sweet, chocolatey-type candles, but Ginger Tea is both fresh and strong in a similar way, and I think it’s just not as popular because it’s not your typical candle scent. Like most candles–they’re not ginger scented, but we love them.

AR: Yeah. And for the past year most of our sales have happened online. So I think it can be harder for people if they're not used to what a ginger candle would smell like. I probably wouldn't be inclined to [buy it].

A 2021 QCC holiday meme, featuring Al holding a candle

And I think one of the last things that I was curious about was asking if there was anything in particular you would like to share or anything that you think that is really necessary to know about your business, about you, anything. 

AR: That's a great question. 

AG: This is just a personal thing. My pronouns are they/them and we have made that pretty clear everywhere and we're called Queer Candle Co., and people still just make a lot of assumptions and call us ladies a lot, so uh...

AR: That is a good thing to be aware of. 

AG: I think that I would like to share that you shouldn't automatically call two people ladies. That's just my opinion.

AR: Yeah. Just to various different people who slide into our DMs. 

AG: Yeah. If you're DM-ing a business you don't even have to check. Like if it's too much work for you to check, then just don't use gendered language for multiple people.

AG: We get a lot of DMs that are like "Oh my god ladies! I love these candles." 

AR: Or like folks will–I see it a lot in gift retailers actually. People will be like this company is run by these two lesbians who are so nice. And it's like, that's fine, but you're making an assumption about our identities.

AG: Yeah. 

AR: And it's not how either of us identify, so...

A close up of QCC’s Earth candle

AG: And I think we've sort of expected with a name like Queer Candle Co., that there would be a bit more nuance in how we were addressed. Like for me, I'm even doubly careful when I see it's a queer business to make sure to use either whatever language that that person prefers or neutral language if you don't know. So, I think that we both have just been sort of surprised that with the name that we have, so many people have made assumptions [about us]. 

DC: Oh. It definitely makes sense. 

AG: And we've never tried to be too blatant about people making us uncomfortable because we also don't want it to come across that it wouldn't be okay if we were XYZ, you know? We don't ever want to project the image that I'm not comfortable being referred to as a lesbian, but we never want our customers to feel like me saying that I don't want to be that, is in any way invalidating a part of the community, so it just would be easier on us if people saw our name and were like, ‘Okay, I'm gonna be a little more neutral about it,’ so we never have to come out and be like, "I am not this," if that makes sense. 

DC: Essentially, don't make assumptions. Yeah. It's true. It's true. I feel like you would assume that having the name Queer Candle Co. would make it easier for your audience to be like, "Oh! Wow, they're queer. Like I wonder what they are. What their pronouns are. Etcetera. Etcetera." But I'm so sorry that that keeps happening to y'all. I try to, at least personally, you know, say ‘folks’ and ‘y'all.’ I don't know. I incorporate ‘y'all’ into my vocabulary because personally, I think it's fun, but it's also inclusive. You know? Iit makes me feel like I'm from the South, even though I'm not. 

AR: Everybody's working on it. 

AG: Yeah. And we're always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. So I guess just, my reason for tacking it on there is like, when you're talking to a brand, they’re still people. 

DC: Yeah. Especially a small business. Typically whoever is running it is gonna see those messages. 

AG: The little candle guys. 

Currently, Ab and Al are busy fulfilling Queer Candle Co. orders for Pride season–which typically takes place in June, country-wide. Though this is when they receive their most retail orders, they’re still slinging wax over in Philadelphia as well as here in NYC. So make sure you pop on over to their site and check out their plethora of garden-fresh scented candles, wax melts, and flame-free options. You can keep up with the day-to-day operations and frequent updates on their products via Instagram, and if you’re lucky, you might just be able to catch them IRL at one of the markets that they sell at.

A behind the scenes look at a QCC product photoshoot in the studio

All photos courtesy of Queer Candle Co.’s Website and Instagram.