Beeswax candle company Queen B has just launched a range of beeswax wraps, which seems to be a departure from its core product—candles—but according to the Queen B herself, Cate Burton, that’s not really the case.
“Queen B is more than a candle brand,” she explains.
“We’re a brand that is about sustainable, hand crafted, natural, non-toxic, cleverly designed, life affirming, beautifully presented, regional community supporting, ethical products.”
While these wraps were developed by the company itself, the venture actually started out with a Canadian product.
“We were inspired by conversations with our customers on what else we could do to make their lives better and easier. So several years ago we started researching the product and testing everything available on the market and we ended up stocking a Canadian brand because it was the best product on the market.
“It never sat well with me to be stocking a brand from overseas, so we started work on developing our own beeswax wraps… flexible enough not to crack (that is the issue with most of the wraps on the market), soft enough to warm with your hands and hardy enough to survive in a busy household,” Burton adds.
“Every other brand we’ve tested has made wraps that are too brittle. We have also chosen stunning fabrics and finally, as with everything from Queen B, they are beautifully presented. Most of the brands on the market seem to just have a piece of baking paper around them where the wraps are largely exposed to dust and grime in a retail environment with customers picking them up with dirty hands. Our packaging is fully enclosed, with a window made from corn starch so the packaging is completely biodegradable.”
The wraps are made from fabric coated in beeswax, tree resin and organic coconut oil mix―the beeswax is for longevity, it is waterproof and it preserves things (think mummies coated in beeswax!), while tree resin in anti-bacterial and the organic coconut oil is for flexibility.
“Our Beeswax wraps come in three different sizes―medium, large and bread. We decided not to make small wraps as are our large wraps are four times the size of most of the small wraps on the market, so it is easier just to buy a large one and cut it into four pieces. It saves us time and labour and those savings are passed on the customer.”
The wraps launched only a few weeks ago and the response has been huge says Burton, with many retailers already reordering.
“We’re about helping our customers detox their homes… ridding their living spaces of paraffin and soy and ridding their kitchens of soft plastics. The ABC War on Waste series really hit home to people what a massive issue soft plastics are, not just for the planet, but also for our health.
“Consumers are actively looking for solutions so that they aren’t contributing to the problem and forward thinking, clever retailers are providing those solutions to them. Because of the nature of what we do, those are our retailers and those are our customers―but even then the response has been bigger than we could have ever anticipated,” she enthuses.
By Marion Gerritsen
