BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer

Handmade in Freehold Borough? Absolutely! The borough’s business roster has recently added a candle manufacturing firm.

Lumiere Candles and Beyond now occupies the 12,000-square-foot building on Throckmorton Street that formerly housed Hillpots Hardware and later a metal works company.

The candle manufacturing business is co-owned by husband and wife David and Alice Kay.

Before setting up their manufacturing business in the borough, the Kays purchased the candles they sold in their retail stores from candle manufacturers.

In addition to producing candles here, the building will also hold the stock of wax beauties for retail stores the couple owns in Holmdel, Denville, Edgewater and North Wales, Pa.

A large manufacturing room contains all of the ingredients that are needed to turn wax into beautiful scented candles.

Employees melt and mold the wax into natural and biodegradable candles that do not contain any additives or produce harmful waste.

There is no paraffin, which means there is no petroleum in the candles.

The candles are made from vegetable wax or soy wax, which means they burn longer and cleaner, and are virtually “soot-free.”

The company uses 35 fragrances in its hand-poured, handcrafted candles, Alice Kay said, adding that each fragrance is chosen after months of research and customer feedback.

The Kays have a patent pending on a special encased votive candle that combines the best of an encased tea light and a longer burning votive candle.

Although the company’s signature product is its candles, the firm’s retail stores carry an eclectic mix of home decor, giftware and home fragrances.

There is no retail store in Freehold now, but that could happen in the future, Kay said.

For more information visit the company’s Web site at www.lumiereonline.com.