Local candle makers known around world thanks to TikTok

Guernsey Candles has been in business since 1973. Peter Martel started the business in his garage and it has remained a family operation ever since.

Granddaughter Charlotte Martel, 19, grew up dipping candles and learning to carve them intricately alongside her father Shaun, and grandfather. In December 2019, she began

sharing videos of the process on TikTok.

‘I posted a video and two weeks later it had 50,000 views,’ she said.

‘Then it just kept growing. Now some of the videos have millions of views.’

She has 1.8m. followers on the platform and multiple videos have had millions of views. The most popular one has been viewed 28.8m. times.

‘At first I don’t think my family understood the TikTok videos, now they’re amazed,’ Miss Martel said.

‘They’ve been so encouraging.’

Grandfather Peter said he was very proud of his granddaughter’s success.

‘We’re so very proud of Charlotte,’ he said.

‘She’s done very well, and seeing someone of that age achieve so much is amazing. It’s even nicer that we have that family bond through the business. It’s done a lot of good for us. We’re always quite busy anyway, but the videos have helped. People come in and say they’ve seen Charlotte.’

For Miss Martel, the process is natural and second nature.

She said she grew up learning to make the candles and the appeal of the videos for others is a bit lost on her.

‘I’ve done this so much I don’t see what everyone else does, but it means the world to me to share my family’s business with so many people,’ she said.

‘People from all over the world know about us now. People are coming in to see us because of the videos and it’s so nice.’

‘I think the experience has made me really proud to be from this place.’

Miss Martel is about to begin her second year of university in Birmingham for fashion branding and communication. She said she has really enjoyed being back in Guernsey for the summer and spending time with family as well as working in the candle

shop.

Although she doesn’t know what the future holds, for now she said she will keep making videos about her family’s business for her TikTok followers.

Her TikTok user name is charlotte__martel.