We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brittany Thornton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brittany, appreciate you joining us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

I started making candles in my kitchen back in 2020, that progressed to selling at local craft shows, expos and farmers markets. In October 2021, two days before Halloween, I opened my first ever brick & mortar storefront. I moved out of candlemaking in my kitchen and instead I now make candles in my workshop in the back of the shop. My shop also carries locally made items like bathbombs (some with a hidden crystal surprise inside!), Tea, Crystal jewelry, home decor, tarot and Oracle cards, sages and other metaphysical items. I also carry an assortment of raw and tumbled crystals.

Brittany, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started making candles in my kitchen back in 2020, that progressed to selling at local craft shows, expos and farmers markets. In October 2021, two days before Halloween, I opened my first ever brick & mortar storefront. I moved out of candlemaking in my kitchen and instead I now make candles in my workshop in the back of the shop.

My shop also carries locally made items like bathbombs (some with a hidden crystal surprise inside!), Tea, Crystal jewelry, home decor, tarot and Oracle cards, sages and other metaphysical items. I also carry an assortment of raw and tumbled crystals.

I try to carry as much locally made in Colorado products as possible, all of which is made by artists that I personally know and and am friends with! I love being able to offer a place for others to sell their wares where they might not have a opportunity to do so otherwise.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process./

I make my own candles. I have many different kinds like shaped pillar candles and crystal infused intention candles. They are 100% soy wax, the botanicals I use are organic and my fragrances are all essential oil infused and phthalate-free. The glitter is all non toxic, biodegradable and made from plants. And the crystals used are all genuine crystals.

I have definitely learned so much in my candlemaking journey! From picking the right containers, wax, wicks,to figuring out pouring temperatures, ect. Candlemaking is definitely both a science and an art and it takes time to develop the perfect formula!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I started my business with the stimulus check. I had no family money, capital, investors, ect. to help with startup costs This funding journey has been completely on my own. I saved up money from all of my events and online sales and was available to invest in stock for my storefront.

Contact Info:

• Website: Faerygrove.etsy.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/faerygrove
• Facebook: Facebook.com/faerygrove
• Other: Tik Tok: Faery Grove

Image Credits
Tri lakes tribune