Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel Dessaules.
Hi Joel, We are so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
When I was younger, I always loved candles. In my thirties, I had a retail and design trade showroom in Los Angeles. I displayed my bespoke furniture collection and various other home products, art, lighting, and decor that I curated. We stocked large quantities of candles and always had them burning in the showroom, filling the space with warmth and an inviting fragrance. This not only made our customers feel comfortable as if they were our guests (and we also provided complimentary beverage service), but it also brought us immense joy. Almost everyone who visited the showroom walked out with at least one candle. This shared love for candles and their evident demand led to starting a candle company. Our original name was Condor Candle Company, a nod to nature and a superb logo. After numerous trips to Zion and St. George, we named the line after our happy place, Virgin River Naturals. When COVID-19 shut everything down in early 2020, we decided to make a move to St. George to create a brand in a town that the Virgin River runs through. And that’s how our candle company came to be: a community of candle lovers with a shared passion for creating a warm and inviting atmosphere, a passion that continues to drive us every day.
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Well, how hard can it be to open a candle company? It’s just wax and fragrances, after all. So, things go differently in the real world. When we first started in 2018, we spent 2 years working with our graphics team in Palm Springs, California, to help us create and fine-tune our brand. The process involved logo creation, brand fonts, colors, and the overall vibe. Having a great graphics team is like having a great therapist. You get everything out of your head, and they work with you to construct something better. While the graphics team moved through all of their steps to get everything detailed and deliver labels, business cards, catalogs, matchbooks, and a working retail website, we were busy at our studio blending countless wax blend ratios. We would have to figure out the correct wick size with every wax blend. Who knew how many candle wick options are available? It’s mind-blowing. We extensively mixed and tested a zillion fragrance combinations, burn testing to narrow our offerings to 8 unique fragrance blends. We also sourced and did numerous samples for the glass jar candle containers and custom boxes during this time. It’s essential to get this step right because the order minimum is 4,000 units, and over several years, we slowly made changes to the containers. Fast forward 4 years, and we did a complete re-design of all of our product labels, a task that was not without its challenges. Yet, we persevered and are currently working on finishing the label designs for a Limited Edition Holiday Collection. Product development is an ongoing process that helps keep things fresh and offers new experiences to our customers, a process that we are committed to despite the challenges.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might need to be more familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
My background includes interior design, architectural design, custom furnishings, high-end, turn-key residential projects, and some commercial. I have re-imagined numerous homes, from the face of the curb to the rear property line and everything in between, down to floor plan changes, significant structural changes, kitchens, bathrooms, custom furnishings and built-ins, lighting, blinds, art, landscape & hardscape design, really the whole enchilada. The most recent project was delivered to the clients ready for a party, with a giant pink flamingo and floating LED color-changing spheres in the pool. A few years ago, one client had their family’s Christmas photo taken of the enormous inflatable pool unicorn for the final installation. It is all about these small details; remember to bring an electric air pump.
Transitioning this level of detail to our candle and fragrance collection has been a fun experience. To go from designing for others, I now have the opportunity to create this line for my ideal customers. Fortunately, customers love the product, the packaging, the design, the fragrances, and the overall aesthetic. We have spent so much time creating a unique wax blend from natural soy wax, coconut wax, and organic unrefined Utah beeswax. Our unique line is hand-made, hand-poured, hand-labeled, and hand-finished by humans in Southwestern Utah. Even our Linen and Room Sprays are all hand made, not machines are used for any part of it. This allows us to ensure the highest level of quality, as each piece is touched by a human hand throughout the process. If it’s not perfect, we do not ship it. Factory seconds make ideal gifts for friends and family, so nothing goes to waste.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success takes time to measure. As a creative person, I am always working on something. I have designed and re-designed products, packaging, labels, packaging cards, catalogs, fragrances, and websites, and it is a never-ending process. I like to measure success in meeting short-term as well as long-term goals. A small success is a retail partner that does well with our line, consistently reorders, and has an enticing retail presentation of our line. Since we launched the line about 4 years ago, while shopping at Harmons Grocery store, a long-term goal was to get into their stores. I knew I had to get the product and labeling to a place where I was confident to pitch the line, and now they are carrying the line in a few stores and will expand to others. That is a milestone, and as each milestone gets checked off the list, you may consider your business a success. Translating that into income and generating wealth only comes by meeting many goals, which takes time and perseverance. And if you have a great product, it will succeed quickly.
Pricing:
- 4oz Linen + Room Sprays $25
- 6oz Travel Tin Candles $25
- 8oz Glass Jar Candles $35
- 16oz Glass Jar Candles $50
Contact Info:
- Website: https://virgin-river.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginrivercandle/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VIRGINRIVERNATURALS
Image Credits
Glady Dalton- Heart Take the Wheel, Joel Dessaules, Indigo Klabanoff, Kevin Macey
