We Are Upstate NY with WNDRMADE Fragrance Artisan Stephen Biebel

We are Upstate NY with Stephen Biebel, co-founder of Wndrmade, a small-batch all-natural fragrance brand hand-poured in the Catskills. If pure, natural products drive your purchasing decisions, Wndrmade proudly offers uniquely complex, truly natural fragrances for your home. Each hand-crafted candle uses 100% pure, wild, and organic essential botanical oils blended with vegan coconut/soy wax and cotton wicks for a special final touch.

Two years ago, we had the pleasure of meeting Stephen Biebel and Alice Yeung, the husband-and-wife visionaries behind Wndrmade. Their brand caught our attention with its nomenclature, beautiful vibe and product curation, and we were fascinated by how it came to be. You can read about that interview HERE. Today, we’re excited to share our latest conversation with Stephen, where we’ll catch up on the businesses progress, the highlights, and the new developments that are in the works.

INSIDE+OUT Upstate NY: How long has Wndrmade been in business, and how did you first discover your love for what you do? 

STEPHEN BIEBEL: We started developing the brand and the first three fragrances early in 2019, but the official launch date of Wndrmade was January 1st, 2020—just before rumors of a pandemic and lockdown began to take shape. We’ve been in business for four full years now (if you count the pandemic year!), and if we take a moment to reflect, it really does feel special to see how the brand has grown and evolved. 

I’m not sure there was ever a “eureka!” moment when we suddenly discovered this love for crafting natural fragrances. The culmination of circumstances, decisions, and uncompromising standards led us down the path of truly natural botanical perfumery. When Co-Founder Alice Yeung was diagnosed with thyroid cancer years ago, those circumstances altered our awareness of what we consume, whether that be the food we eat or the air we breathe. When we started conceptualizing Wndrmade, we decided to only use natural essential oils and botanical extracts for our perfumery, even though this is in stark contrast to how candle and home fragrance brands traditionally do things. On this, we would not compromise. Whereas most brands either buy pre-bottled fragrances from a fragrance store or work with a perfume lab, we had to teach ourselves our methodology and create our own fragrances and recipes from scratch. The love comes from the artisanship of the craft. When we create a fragrance, it’s not really akin to chemistry; it’s more like making art.

What accomplishments are you most proud of to date?

We have some accomplishments that many would traditionally consider “wins” in business. Getting our products on the shelves of an iconic store like Fred Segal was definitely up there, as was having write-ups in publications like FabFitFun and Conde Nast Traveler. These achievements certainly gave us confidence in what we do, but I have to say we’re far more proud when our customers write to us to tell us about their experience with our fragrances and share that they’ve never experienced another candle like their Wndrmade candle. 

Maybe one of the things we’re most proud of is getting natural perfumery to work so well in a candle at all! There are a few reasons why most candles don’t use natural scents, the first being that they’re incredibly cost-prohibitive and the second being that they are notoriously difficult to make work. Achieving a very aromatic, highly complex, and genuinely natural fragrance candle is a significant achievement.

Can you tell us about your creative process? Where do you find creative inspiration?

I have a bit of a chaotic mind, so much of my creative process in fragrance creation seeks balance in complexity. Working with natural ingredients is far more complicated than working with lab-made synthetics, which only aim to mimic natural scents. Creating perfumery from only “naturals” is cathartic for me. It’s solving many puzzles while crafting harmony and balance. Sometimes, it can take close to a year of adjustments to get the result I’m looking for.

Another thing that drives our creativity is the importance we place on originality. All of our fragrances must be uniquely our own, uniquely Wndrmade.

Even if a scent seems like it should be straightforward, like Lavender, Vanilla, or Patchouli, we always craft that fragrance with certain intentional twists that make it uniquely ours. The result is a distinct collection that doesn’t smell like anything else on the market.

I can speak directly to one specific creative inspiration and a story I often share with people we meet who are sampling the scents. Our JSMN (jasmine) candle was inspired by a small jasmine bush that Alice’s mother bought for our home as a gift. It had the most intensely fragrant blooms that would happen on certain evenings, and its impact was almost tangible. I immediately knew that I wanted to try to deliver a candle that could capture and replicate that experience, so I started sourcing different strains of Jasmine Absolute from all over the world to find the one that was closest to the aroma we had at home. I knew I needed to tone down the intensity slightly in the blend, and the result was something reminiscent of a beautiful jasmine tea. 

Has your work evolved since you began? 

In the beginning, we relied a lot on our instincts and vision and had many more failures in the product development process. Over the last four years, with a lot of feedback from customers and marketgoers who take the time to smell our collection, we’ve gained more confidence in ourselves and the fragrances we produce. This confidence has given us the courage to challenge ourselves to work with more difficult raw materials, stronger botanical concentrates, and even some all-new products beyond the world of candles. Looking to the future, after our three new scents launch this year, we will shift focus into branching out our product offering.

Do you have any new products or special offerings this year, and how do you decide whether to add a new fragrance or product?

Yes! This month (April 2024), we will launch our own line of all-natural wood and resin-based incense cones. We’re starting with Palo Santo, Red Cedar, and Sandalwood, and the aromas come from the raw materials only, with no extra fragrance added. We find them to be beautifully meditative, and they burn for a pretty specific time period (about 15 minutes), which is great for our morning mindfulness rituals. 

What is the ethos behind your business?

Our ethos is to craft fine, aromatic natural products for the home that are not just made from nature but also honor the gift that nature has given us. We source our ingredients from only sustainable producers to protect the fragile ecosystems that provide these plants for us to enjoy. Our packaging is recyclable or reusable, and we stay away from plastics as much as possible.

We produce everything we make by hand in small batches and would rather sell out than over-produce or create waste. 

What are the joys and challenges of running your own business?

There are so many of both! The challenges are endless. When you’re self-funded like we are, you’re just trying to pay the bills first. Everything about the business comes with a cost, and you always feel like you need to get ahead of that. Every new scent or product is an investment, and each carries the risk of failure.  Also, when you run your own business, everything is personal, even if you don’t want it to be. We pour our hearts into what we do, and it can be easy for people to dismiss it or not even give it a chance. You feel every criticism, critique, setback, and challenge in a personal way because this business is a part of you.

On the other hand, the joy you feel when you receive positive feedback, get a touching email or note from a customer, or when someone smells a candle for the first time and says, “Wow,” there is really nothing else like it. 

Running your own business gives you a sort of freedom, even though the demands are far greater than those of a regular job. You’re responsible for everything, but for some, this self-reliance is liberating.

You participate in many local Maker’s Markets, like Field + Supply. What is your lineup this year?

We love local Maker’s Markets and treat them like pop-up shops. Wndrmade is an “experience” brand. You really need to experience what we do to understand that it’s not just another candle brand, so there is nothing more valuable to us than meeting people and sharing the collection in a face-to-face environment. 

This year, in addition to Field + Supply, we’ve had multiple pop-ups at AutoCamp in Saugerties; we will be taking part in the Hudson Farmer’s Market in Hudson, NY, the Love Local Maker’s Market in Warwick, NY, and a few more. You can keep up with upcoming pop-up markets on  Instagram or our website at https://wndrmade.com/pages/events.

How do you approach marketing, and how valuable is the online community to your business?

Word of mouth is our favorite marketing method. People who purchase and burn our candles in their homes for friends and family become customers, and so on. We love it when that happens.  We’re not as big on social media as we used to be. As those platforms change and evolve, they get more chaotic and less enjoyable to engage with. Maybe we’re just getting older! We will still post on Instagram to keep our followers up to date on new products or events that we’ll be attending, and we definitely still like to support and comment on some of our fellow makers posts and keep up with what they’ve got going on as well. Personally, if we didn’t have this business, I’m not sure I would have an Instagram or TikTok account at all.

Let’s help people gift your products:

Which items would you suggest for a gift for Him, and why?

Now: VTVR—This is the first fragrance I ever made and is still one of our best sellers. I originally designed it as a wearable fragrance for myself, so it has an earthy masculinity while being universally well received. It is also a very calming fragrance and great for unwinding. Future: OKMS or TBCO—Both of these are deep, rich, and sophisticated scents that men will love.

What about a gift for Her? 

JSMN if she likes florals or PALO if she prefers meditative, uplifting fragrance–two very different scents. 

And what is your favorite scent for a housewarming gift? 

ATLS – Moroccan Cedarwood is so fresh and welcoming – a great aroma for a new home setting. 

A gift for a dinner host? 

PCHL—This patchouli scent is not like the others. It’s almost indescribable how beautiful the aroma is as a home fragrance. It is not overpowering but will have a lovely presence at any dinner party.

What are your favorite scents? Which candle do you burn the most?

I have a hard time picking a favorite, and honestly, it depends on the season, mood, or the fragrance I’m currently working on. In our current collection, I find myself burning PCHL the most, but in the upcoming collection, HNKI (hinoki) and OKMS (oakmoss) are both fragrances that I’m very proud of.

How do you unwind and unplug when not working?

We love nature, so most of our time away from work is spent outdoors. We love hiking, camping, fly fishing, etc. But we also love to travel, and if we can find the time, we love a good road trip.

We know how important your dog is to you. What are some of your favorite dog-friendly places in the Hudson Valley? 

Sofi (our Shiba Inu) is a member of our family, and she goes everywhere we go. She’s at any restaurant with outdoor seating. Ollie’s in High Falls is a favorite, and Phoenicia Diner is great when we are camping or hiking nearby.

What personal or business goals are you working on now that you’re excited about?

We’ve got a few secret goals that we’re working towards. We’ll call them business dreams right now, and when they happen, we’ll come back to this and celebrate. In the shorter term, our goals are to launch three new fragrances this year, new incense cones, and introduce a new handmade glass candle vessel. Beyond that, we would like to expand the product line to room sprays, diffusers, perfumes, skincare, soaps, etc.

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All photos courtesy of Wndrmade

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Born of Nature. Made for Home

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