Hi there and welcome to our blog! I’m Heidi, one of the sisters and co-founders of Foton. Here’s the story of how Foton Pearled Candles came to life.

Years ago, my sister Sirli and I got excited about a kids' crafting concept. You know those colorful sand candles that were “a thing” decades ago. We saw a whole lot more potential in this basic concept and a way to solve some real issues that we saw with regular candles:

• Candles are wasteful - we hated throwing away old candle jars!
• Candles get uglier with each use (especially if you don't burn them right the first time and cause them to tunnel...but who reads the fine print anyway!??)

We decided to create a modern & clean-burning version of these old-school sand candles. The products that were available at the time were made of paraffin wax, burned with black smoke, and came in plastic bags.

We were convinced that between my background in chemistry and product development, and Sirli’s eye for design and experience in logistics, we would be able to create something with real value.

We were determined not to replace one environmental problem with another, so it was important to us to create a clean-burning version made from sustainable raw materials. We also wanted the packaging to be as convenient to use as possible while choosing materials that were kinder to our planet.

It took months of diving into the chemistry of candles, designing the packaging, sourcing all the components, and figuring out the manufacturing method before we finally had a product we were proud of. We called it Foton Pearled Candle, filed for a patent, and started introducing it to the world.

Unlike sand candles, Foton Pearled Candles are made from proprietary plant-based ingredients, which makes them non-toxic and burn cleanly with minimal smoke or soot.

We also determined through careful experimentation that they're safer than traditional candles for two reasons:

• Pearled candles self-extinguish if accidentally tipped over. The pearls simply snuff the flame!
• When following the safety instructions for container size, the melt pool will never reach the edge or bottom, so the wick extinguishes before it would heat up the container.

It's been an exciting journey to continue introducing this new concept to the world (and watch many others try to copy - that's a topic for another day :)). We love seeing people get creative when styling their pearled candles and turn different household items into unique candles. We’ve said from the very beginning that pearled candles are smarter for us, and kinder to our planet.

Thank you for following our journey!

Heidi

PS: Are you curious where the name Foton came from? It’s the international spelling of the word “photon”, which means “a particle of light” in physics terms. We found no better way to describe our little candle beads while celebrating our inner science nerds (well, maybe I had a little more influence here over my arguably less nerdy sister).

About the Author

Heidi Stojanovic is one of the sisters and co-founders of Foton. Before launching Foton Pearled Candles, she spent 9 years leading the Research & Development team of a global chemical company. Foton combines her passions for sustainability and using chemistry to solve real-world problems in simple yet clever ways.