In Good Company
The Decorative Arts sale at Christie's included many beautiful designs.
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The Design Process
Creating a new color is an adventure that is born out of inspiration and impression. Each of our colors has a story and reason for existence. In turn, they each have a formulated recipe. Some are simple, requiring only a few drops or grams of dye, while others entail a complicated process.
To achieve our colors, we use both white and yellow beeswax. Each batch is carefully weighted and melted. The aniline dye is added when the wax has reached a precise temperature. Developing a new or custom color for a client or project is a tedious and time consuming process resulting in a day or two of misfires and, eventually, sweet success.
Color Trends
As a specialized company, we take pride in our passion for color. While we are conscious of emerging trends and make sure our collection stays ahead of the market as an industry innovator, each color is first and foremost a reflection of our aesthetic. A great deal of care and thought goes into the creation of a new color – our shades are handcrafted with love, and released with pride.
Our company is small enough to be able to adjust our process to accommodate special clients and custom orders such as celebrity parties or magazine spreads. Through close collaboration and personal attention, we can make a lasting impression: a beautiful hue custom-created to hit the subtlest note for the perfect occasion.
Our lives today are busier and more distracted than ever. Let’s admit it: too often we find ourselves taking a phone call or checking our Instagram account while we’re supposed to be enjoying quality time with our loved ones. How many family meals regularly get interrupted by our phones buzzing and someone staring at their little screen? Be honest.
We’ve decided to make a concerted effort to put all the distractions away and dedicate dinner time to nothing but family. Nothing brings a family closer more than sharing a meal together.
To make these moments even more special, we think it’s a great idea to take some time to set the table beautifully. A warm, glowing candle at the center of it all evokes the perfect atmosphere for a loving homemade meal. It’s easy, it’s simple, and it makes such a difference. It lets everyone know that dinner time is important, family is worth celebrating, and those gathered around the table are special to you.
Placing one or two small candles on stands at the table is a nice way to achieve a homey everyday family meal atmosphere (try our graceful cats or sweet owls). A single column candle in a sturdy candle holder will do the same. You will be surprised to see the effect just lighting a candle will have on making an ordinary meal feel more intimate and meaningful.
For more festive occasions, go bigger: pillar candles of varying heights and sizes on a metal or mirror tray, a grouping of elegant tapers in different textures in tall candle holders, or candles sculpted into special shapes to celebrate an event or gathering. Different colors have their own significance: darker, dramatic colors are usually considered festive and romantic, while lighter, more subtle hues bring forth feelings of joy.
We strongly feel that 100% pure beeswax candles are the best choice to burn around mealtime. With no added scent, they are ideal for the dinner table when you don’t want fragrance to interfere with the aroma of the food. Another important point too often ignored: typical paraffin-based candles contain carcinogenic chemicals. Beeswax is non-toxic, non-allergenic, and purifies the air. Not only should mealtime nourish you and connect you to your loved ones, it should take place in a clean, healthy environment.
You’ll find an abundance of inspiration for your dinner table in our collection of contemporary 100% pure beeswax candles. As you plan the next meal, whether for your family or for a big celebration such as Passover or Easter, make sure to include candles as a functional centerpiece to invoke the right atmosphere. It lets everyone know it’s time to let go of distractions and sit down to savor the moment.
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Greentree's Words of Wisdom: Summer is a time to kick back and enjoy life. It is an opportunity to spend time with adored family and friends or perhaps, alone with a good book. Travel, swim, fish, hike, paint, garden, dance......every day. Happy Summer to YOU!
Set in the western foothills of the Catskill Mountains, Jenifer Green’s studio is a place of industrious attitudes. Spools of wicks hang on pipes and are feed through scores of pale purple molds that are lined up and ready to receive liquid beeswax to form her company's many sculptural renderings. Just outside the studio, the air is teaming with the sweet and damp scent of spring. Green reflects “ We love to open the front doors in the warm weather, but soon become invaded by honey bees and birds. They are drawn by the sweet aroma of the beeswax”.
Treadwell is a quiet hamlet located just 14 miles from Delhi, NY and provides the perfect setting for productive work. For Green and her team of makers, the rolling landscape, the vast swipe of liquid blue sky and the occasional cry of a nearby cow or goat all provide an inspiring work environment. Each morning the tight knit crew constructs a production plan based on colors, styles and quantities. The Greentree Home collection of hand poured pure beeswax candles is offered at high-end retailers throughout the USA and Canada as well as the company’s web site.
“My work is all about form and function. Both are so important to me. A candle is a sensory object.” Green strives to balance the virtues of the burning experience with the use of a pure material in all of her designs. She adds, "The hand made process is essential and allows for total control of the quality.” Green credits her success to a keen focus on her vision for the company."I feel that creativity is the lifeblood that makes our everyday lives spectacular. The objects and candles we produce in our studio are expressions of who we are and define our creativity and imagination."
Interview with Tim Trescott, a North Carolina beekeeper.
I have been in the bee business all my life. I am a third generation.
We work directly with only US Beekeepers, and US only. This is a bit more labor intensive as we ourselves are doing the collection and not the beekeepers, but the quality of wax is generally higher this way. Domestic beeswax is also collected and processed different than, say, African beeswax.
Since we work domestically, we are able to directly with the beekeepers, and we maintain relationships with beekeepers across the country. Since the wax can only be extracted by also extracting the honey, it’s sort of an all hands on deck operation.
I keep it simple and usually just wear a khaki shirt with jeans and then a bee veil. A classic beekeeper-uniform, one could say.
As mentioned, the wax only comes from extracting the honey, since the wax is what seals the honey in the hive. Capping wax is the best type, though- it’s the super-finewax seal on the top, as opposed the the wax within the comb. The capping wax is the most pure, and- not surprisingly, the hardest and most expensive to obtain.
We travel as far as the Dakotas, summertime is usually the best time to travel- for the obvious reason of travelling logistics, and also the fact that bees are generally more active during this time of year..
Yes, I find that the wax is based on the floral source it comes from. Some southern waxes work better for going to an ivory color. The smell also depends on the floral source as well. The quality, color, and scent is affected with each stage of collection. African beeswax, for example, is often collected by blowing black smoke into the hives, which in turn changes the color and scent of the wax from that point forward.
Collecting wax does not affect the bees- it’s kind of like pruning a plant. Of course you don’t want to prune the entire bush, but cutting it back a bit won’t harm the plant in the slightest and can actually be beneficial for its productivity as an organism.. Each hive of bees only produces about 1 to 2 lbs of wax per year. The wax is depending on the amount of honey that is produced.
We are hobbyists at this time, running about 20 hives of bees. in the past we used to run as many as 800.
I would have to say the strangest thing people have used beeswax for is either as gum or hair removal.
No, It is a fairly standard business. The industry has experienced more notoriety, though, in the past few years thanks to the push for environmental awareness and bee scarcity.
The favorite part of the job is taking crude wax and getting it back into a nice yellow beeswax for candle making.
My advice to someone interested in the industry is that it not for the weak of heart. It is a hard job, literally, working with the bees, but it so enjoyable. It’s a lot of learning by doing.
Words: Caroline Noonan
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Join us for the first Remodelista New York City Market, held at the Canvas Home showroom in lower Manhattan. Stop in over the weekend for a bit of pre-spring shopping and to mingle with great makers. We hope to see you there!
WHAT: Remodelista NYC Market at Canvas Home
WHEN: Saturday, March 12th, 10AM to 7PM, and Sunday, March 13th, 10AM – 6PM
WHERE: 123 West 17th Street, NYC, 10011
More than 40 local artisans from the New York region, plus a few from farther afield, will be showcasing their homewares, clothing, jewelry, organic botanicals, gourmet foodstuffs, and more. Here’s a preview of who you’ll find: