1. Tell us a little bit about the company.
We specialize in hand-making Japanese candles. Our company was founded in 1914 and has been passing down our techniques through our family for four generations.
2. How did the company start?
After our founder, Yoichiro Onishi, trained at a candle shop in Osaka, he returned to his hometown to establish his own company.
3. What is a typical day like for DAIYO?
In summertime, we start working at 5 am, while it’s still cool, and during winter we start at 7 am. After engaging in manufacturing operations, we typically move onto taking care of shipping and other miscellaneous tasks.
4. What is your process for extracting vegetable wax for your candles
View our process here.
5. How does sustainability fit into your brand?
Using sustainable ingredients/materials for our candle-making is among our most important core values. As society increasingly prioritizes harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, people have naturally come to demand sustainable materials and processes from manufacturing industries. Humanity is now required to systematize renewable practices because the need for sustainability has become a dire ethical responsibility.
Our process is based on the moral philosophy of keeping things simple and not overthinking or overdoing one’s process. For example, we never use materials that require lots of energy and complicated equipment to extract from beneath the earth when we can simply harvest what we need from plants and animals, who also provide new resources annually.
In addition, many waxes are made by converting liquid oil into solid wax using a natural method called hydrogenation. As you can see in this video, our wax is not treated with additives and artificially processed because it’s already wax from the get-go. This method allows us to keep our process simple, while guaranteeing our candles burn consistently and cleanly.
6. Where do you see yourself and your brand in 10 years?
Over the next ten years it’s very important to us that we secure our natural supply chains and grow awareness among consumers about the natural alternatives to mass produced candles. Awareness leads to demand, and demand is necessary to ensure the cycle of harvest and production remains ongoing. Ongoing production means consistent work for our wax makers, and the opportunity for our time-honored techniques to live on.
We have been buying wax on a regular basis every month from the waxmaker, regardless of whether it sells or not. We will keep buying to keep supporting. Within the next three years, we will expand the workshop, increase the number of people involved, and increase the supply to meet the demand.
Ten years from now we hope to have harvested a community where we can share our point-of-view toward manufacturing and sustainability with people around the world. We will continue making quality candles to usher in a bright future with our customers and craftspeople.
We currently carry a small collection of Daiyo's candles and you can shop them here.