Meet a Candle Maker: Interview With Kevin

Meet a Candle Maker: Interview With Kevin

Kevin Owens – Designer

What’s your favorite thing to do at Valiant?

I love designing new candles. It’s fun to pick out different fragrances to mix together, along with a color, a candle vessel, and a name and description, to go with a theme. I especially enjoy getting to design the candles which have colorful labels. I think it helps set the mood.
 
To burn a candle is to create an experience in multiple senses—smell, sight, touch, and sound. I believe the visual design of the candle can help kick off the immersive experience.
 

What’s your favorite fantasy novel?

It’s hard to pick just one fantasy novel to be my favorite, there are so many. As a teenager I was obsessed with the Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and read all of them. As an adult I’ve found Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn to be quite good.
 
I love the Lord of the Rings movies. I keep coming back to watch those over and over again with my family. It’s one of those classics like Pride and Prejudice (1995) or The Princess Bride which never seems to get old. I enjoyed the books quite well too (though I confess I skipped over some of the Elvish poetry.)
 
When I was a teenager still living at home, my sister Shauna and I took turns reading The Hobbit to each other as a bedtime story, a memory I still cherish and which I’ve repeated with my own children.
 

What brought you to Valiant?

I’ve been running another shop selling dnd dice sets for many years. A few years ago, I had the idea of introducing a line of D&D-themed candles to help create an immersive experience for tabletop gaming. These became quite popular, and I found that I really enjoyed designing and making candles.
 
I had lots of ideas for other interesting candles I could make which didn’t fit into the narrow theme of Dungeons & Dragons, and wanted to create a brand that could be broader. One of the first collections I made were our Vintage Virtues candles, which I designed to look like old oil cans so you could buy Grit or Bravery off the shelf and have it for yourself.
 

Besides making candles, what do you like to do for fun?

I like making music. I write and perform my own songs, and I play the guitar, piano, ukulele, bass, or whatever else the song calls for.
 
I’ve been singing in choirs since I was 14, and currently sing tenor in the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. I also like game development as a hobby, including computer programming, pixel art and animation, and game design.
 
Most of my time is spent taking care of my several rowdy sons and doing yardwork and maintenance on my estate.
 

What are your favorite Valiant candle scents?

My number one favorite candle sent is Prowess, which is a sophisticated blend of fruity and perfume. My second favorite is This is the Way, which is bright, juicy, and sweet. I love the fruit scents most of all!

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