BC Business
The company makes a "candle you've never seen before."
Even Jesse and Tamara Furgason’s friends and family were taken aback when the couple got into the candle business.
The pair of Australians came to Canada to be with family for a “year or so.” Four years and two kids later, they’re still here. Even more surprising is the business they’ve built—Everlasting Candle Co.
“Neither of us really come from the decor space,” says Jesse, noting that he has a business development background while Tamara works as a doctor. “People that know us look at us and think, How did you get into this?”
The Furgasons started making clean-burning, smoke- and scent-free steel candles as a hobby. One day, they went to a local gift shop and told the manager what they were up to. “I showed her pictures on my phone, like, If I had these candles, would you be interested in them?” Jesse recalls. “She said, If you have them, I’ll buy 12 of them off you right now.”
So the duo began cutting up 20-foot lengths of steel in their Langley backyard and figuring out how to mass-produce their candles. It wasn’t long before the candles flourished in the Metro Vancouver area—Everlasting landed in 14 boutiques in about three months.
“It was the first time we were able to—because we come from very different backgrounds—work together on something,” Jesse says.
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The product (sets of three are available for $75) started proving its originality pretty quickly. “They really are the candle you’ve never seen before,” says Tamara when asked about competition in the industry. “It really is a niche market—it’s kind of a mix between the tapered candles that only burn for a few hours and a modernized take on an oil lamp. But there’s nothing else that it really compares to.”
The team of four core members and a few contractors have made effective use of that uniqueness. Everlasting is now in more than 200 stores across North America, and the Furgasons have no plans to stop there.
“We would love to bring it down to Australia and expand globally, get in 1,000 boutiques across North America,” Jesse says. “Now it’s a case of getting the back end and how do you keep up with everything? We don’t come from these exact backgrounds, so it’s about finding the right people, the right team to really make this business work. We have big plans.”