About

Our Story

Romely and Josh Levezow started Makana Candles with the desire to create candles that aren’t only beautiful, but free of unnecessary and harmful additives. Each candle is hand-crafted from start to finish in the artisanal tradition using only select quality ingredients that are both kind to the environment and kind to our health. Romely and Josh believe that green, eco-friendly products and beautiful design go hand-in-hand. Makana Candles were first given as gifts for friends and as donations to charity events. Fittingly, the company name, Makana, means gift or unconditional giving in Hawaiian and charitable giving is a cornerstone of the company philosophy.

Romely Levezow
Co-owner/Product Development
Even as a little girl, Romely loved working with her hands and constantly creating. Romely’s passion for creating eco-friendly and clean-burning candles began after a medical scare prompted her to look into holistic alternatives, organic eating and green living. After stumbling upon reports about toxic, carcinogenic ingredients contained in ordinary, everyday products, including candles, she was determined to find a healthy, candle alternative. Not content with what was on the market, she spent the next two years researching extensively, and experimenting with a multitude of natural waxes, wicks, fragrance and essential oils to develop the cleanest burning wax and fragrance formulations.

Being a trained traditional hula dancer and having worn fresh tropical florals and foliage for performances, it was not a surprise that Romely created the first Makana candles with captivating scents that are true to the blossoms and fruits of the islands. Thus began Makana’s signature line, the Ke’ala Tropical Collection.

Josh Levezow
Co-owner/Creative Director
Josh uses his experience as a sculptor and digital artist as well as his interest in Polynesian history, art, and culture to develop distinctive packaging and designs. The current candle collections draw inspiration from such diverse sources as vintage Hawaiian fabric prints used for hula pa’u skirts, old-world chocolate labels, and the natural beauty surrounding their Laguna Beach candle studio.

Josh’s art and sculpting work can also be seen scattered throughout Disneyland where he has worked as a scenic artist. Over the past five years, Josh developed his burgeoning interest in Hawai’i into an extensive knowledge of Polynesian history, art, and culture. He is drawn to the Hawaiian philosophy that says all life is interconnected and strongly believes that “the only way we can solve the impending environmental disaster is by returning to a simpler life in which all life – no matter how small – is respected and valued, and what we do and stand for is much more important than how much we have.”

Philosophy

At Makana Candle Studios, we are passionate about preserving both the health of the environment and the health of individuals.

Makana means gift in Hawaiian. Traditional Hawaiian beliefs contend that people, animals, and the land, ‘aina, do not exist independently of one another, but rather, all of our existences and destinies are intertwined. It is our collective kuleana, or responsibility, to care for the earth and all of its inhabitants.

Following this Hawaiian tradition of malama ‘aina, caring for the land, we ensure that each of our hand-crafted candles are made with only simple, green ingredients – 100% pure, GMO-free soy wax, cotton wicks, and phthalate-free fragrances blended with pure essential oils – and carefully wrapped in eco-friendly packaging. In this spirit, we believe that by taking care of the land and its inhabitants, it will in turn, take care of us and provide the gifts of sustenance, balance, health, and well-being.

100% Handcrafted

Our candles are created in the same way that artisans have been creating candles for many, many years – selecting each and every ingredient, blending by hand and in small batches, carefully pouring the wax in each vessel, allowing the candles to cure and packaging them by hand. We operate in a studio, not in a large factory with machinery. All our products have been researched, selected, tested and designed by us and made with care and aloha. In every step of the process, we try to uphold the artisanal tradition.

Ingredients

At Makana Candle Studios, we care about the environment and also your health. That’s why we choose to only use simple, safe, green ingredients – 100% soy wax, all-natural cotton wicking, phthalate-free fragrances blended with essential oils and eco-friendly packaging.

Natural Soy Wax Properties

Due to the organic properties of 100% soy wax, each hand-crafted candle may differ slightly in texture and appearance. Although our candles are dye-free, the components of our fragrance and essential oils vary from blend to blend, and may result in different tints for the finished product. This doesn’t alter the performance of the candle. We think it’s unnecessary and unhealthy to add toxic chemicals just for the purpose of enhancing candle appearance.

Cruelty-free

We have compassion for animals and all living things and never test on animals or use any animal by-products in the creation of our candles. Our candles are completely vegan.

Being Green

We believe that you don't have to sacrifice beautiful design and clean lines to be green; design becomes even more beautiful when it is green. At Makana Candle Studios, we try to balance our customers desire for beauty with eco-sensible decisions. Since we are a small company, each of our candles is handcrafted in small batches and then carefully wrapped in its own eco-friendly packaging. We use earth-friendly material wherever we can - our packaging is 90% recycled fiber and 80% post-consumer paper and is fully biodegradable, recyclable, and compostable. Our packing peanuts are made from corn starch and are completely biodegradable while our packing trays are also recycled and compostable.