Handmade in Mexico
Floral Beeswax Taper Candle · Ivory · Tall
Hand-poured by four generations of Zapotec candlemakers at Casa Viviana in Oaxaca, Mexico, this slender candle makes a striking statement with its intricate details. Pure natural beeswax is built up in close to a hundred layers before a single crown of hand-carved blooms and graduating leaves is applied – each petal shaped individually by hand. The soft ivory hue lends warmth and organic beauty to the piece.
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The Craft. This candle showcases the intricate artistry of traditional Zapotec candle-making, a tasking and time-intensive procedure perfected over generations. Beeswax moulded into discs are bleached and hardened in the sun on tree branches, transforming its original colour into a soft white. The wax is shaped and poured into wooden moulds, with vertical candles hung on scale-like structures and covered in close to a hundred layers of beeswax. The sculptural flowers and ruffles are each perfected by hand, one petal at a time. Working with beeswax demands an intimate understanding of the material's properties - its warmth, malleability, and the precise moment when it will hold detail without distortion.
The Heritage. Velas tradicionales de concha have been used in Zapotec wedding ceremonies for centuries, blending indigenous practices with colonial influences to create a distinctive craft heritage. Zapotec candle-making, in all its ornamental mastery, is upheld by the single pueblo of Teotitlán del Valle in Oaxaca, where the importance of ritual candles preserves valuable ancestral storytelling and history. Carriers of prayers, symbols of commitment and offerings to the divine, beautifully adorned velas are part of pedida de mano (asking for the hand) ceremonies - symbolic gifts to the bride’s family, representing purity, respect, and the illumination of the couple’s future together.
The Maker. Doña Viviana Alávez has been creating candles since she was eight years old. When necessity prompted her to promote her work beyond church gratuity, she resisted the town elders’ opposition to her entrepreneurial impulse and, despite the loss of wax moulds inherited from her grandmother, opened the gate to artistic, innovative candle-making. Today, four generations of female artisan candlemakers work, to international acclaim, at the family home in Teotitlán del Valle, proudly named CASA VIVIANA. Doña Viviana continues her dedicated practice, teaching and creating a proud profession for Zapotec women, whose access to this knowledge had been previously denied.
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