An Introduction.
My name is Brent Sealy. I’m the owner and founder of Winter Fox. I’m a man of many hats. I have coached gymnastics and cheerleading for 25 years. I am a photographer and apparently now I’m a candle maker. I haven’t quit coaching just yet, but I’m hoping it’s on the horizon.
It all started when my friend Scott and I went to our boss’ home to help her move a bunch of heavy furniture. Her floors had recently flooded, due to a broken pipe, and we were to remove the furniture so the floors could be replaced. Throughout the process of doing this, we kept coming across these large, 5 wick Voluspa hearth candles around her home. Aside from the wonderful scents, they were also exquisite in appearance. Scott and I knew they must be expensive, so we checked the bottom for a price tag. Sure enough, these candles were $200 at the time. Since then, we have seen the prices of those candles increase to $215 and now they are selling for $225. We couldn’t believe it. We asked each other “who spends $200 on candles?” We joked that we were in the wrong business, but the idea of reaching a market of customers willing to spend that kind of money on a product stuck with me. Three days and a bunch of YouTube videos later, I bought everything I needed to start making my own luxury line of candles. Shout out to Wade Thomas of Black Tie Barn. The amount of knowledge that man has on this topic, is unparalleled.
I began my journey in my garage around Christmas of 2022 and the actual business was born in early 2023. I spent the next year testing candles and perfecting my recipes before I felt ready to bring any of them to market. In February of 2024, I began selling my candles locally at a few pop up venues, as well as to friends and family. The feedback is letting me know I’m definitely on the right track and I’m eager to continue seeing where this goes.
As for the candles themselves, I wanted to focus on one single size vessel in the beginning and work up to a giant 5 wick candle myself one day. I wanted the starter size to be big enough to fill a decent size room with it’s hot throw. I didn’t want tea lights or little metal tins that could only be used in powder rooms. I settled on a 15 oz vessel that exceeded my expectations. Anything smaller, and you’d really be limited to smaller rooms in your house with a shorter life span. The wax is a luxurious coconut apricot wax. It’s expensive, but it burns up to 75 hours and the qualities it offers are bar none.
Setting up an exhibit in Nashville.