For Monique Baker it was a simple request by her mother-in-law that sparked an idea for a new business adventure that started on her kitchen bench. After many hand poured jars and hand cut wicks later, Monique’s vision came to life, with her candle brand BKR.CO introducing a 100% natural soy wax and cotton wick collection.
The inspiration behind BKR.CO began as a simple request to create a handmade Christmas gift for Monique’s family. “My in-laws have a rule for Christmas that our presents have to be handmade or secondhand. I wanted to try my hand at something new and that’s how I stumbled on candles,” she said. After positive reviews from family and friends, Monique knew she wanted to turn her creative interests into a business. She knew she wanted to turn something she enjoyed and loved into something more.
BKR.CO is a one woman production team, with Monique designing her own labels and graphics and creating concept photo shoots to help express each scent for her customers and how they are interpreted. BKR.CO candles are not your typical bulk manufactured candles, but rather candles crafted with love, care and attention to detail. “I create BKR.CO candles in small, hand poured batches, all in my kitchen. I melt the wax, add my fragrance, pour the wax into the jars and wait for them to set before cutting the wicks to size, labelling, cleaning and packaging them.”
BKR.CO candles are created with 100% soy wax in comparison to alternative paraffin wax, which Monique says is a choice customers should always keep in mind. ” I wanted to use something natural for people to feel like what they are breathing through their homes is safe and soy wax is non-toxic, so it doesn’t release toxins as it burns. Soy wax has a lower melting point than paraffin which means the candles will have a longer burning time and will emit a stronger fragrance.”
Monique’s choice to use natural ingredients and materials throughout her collection enables BKR.CO candles to be environmentally friendly and renewable. She encourages customers to keep BKR.CO candle jars after they have been used to be repurposed and reused. “Because soy wax in biodegradable, it’s easy to clean the left over wax out once you’re finished with your candle and repurpose the jar,” she says.
After almost 6 months since launching her online business BKR.CO has flourished, leaving Monique to pour many more batches of candles in her kitchen, where it all began.
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