Make Good Moments
Great with GLŌAM
Let These Small-Batch,
Hand-Dipped Candles Light up Your Life
By Tyler Hayden | April 10, 2025
Read more of the Home & Garden 2025 cover story here.
Santa Barbara artist and candle-maker Sigal Friedmann starts her mornings early by brewing a cup of coffee and flipping on the boilers in her small backyard studio. As she waits for the beeswax to melt, she mixes the colors she’ll be using that day, usually with a visit from her chickens. The wax is pure, made by South Coast bees, and the dyes are natural, derived from plant pigments.
Then Sigal gets to hand-dipping, up to 35 times per batch, depending on the style of candle she’s making. It takes gentle yet deliberate movements to create the perfect shape and taper, a method she taught herself through no shortage of trial and error. Sigal enjoys the slow, meditative process of it all, especially knowing her dripless candles are bringing sparks of warmth and elegance to people’s lives.
Sigal is one half of GLŌAM, named after the old Scottish word for “twilight.” The other half is her daughter, Lyore, who handles all other aspects of their business, from marketing to socials to wholesale outreach. The two-woman show started 18 short months ago, but their candles are already carried by some of Santa Barbara’s most popular home decor stores, such as Domecíl, MĀCHER, and Field & Fort.
“We just love how the simple act of lighting a candle can create intimacy and coziness,” Lyore explained. They make everyday moments special, she said, and big occasions even more unforgettable. Their wedding collection features a variety of natural tones, such as Alpine Glow, Miramar Blue, and one of their best-sellers, Sal De Maras, a gentle pink inspired by the salt mines of Peru. They also carry birthday candles in olive, chocolate, and rose.
Sigal started experimenting with pigment at a young age, Lyore said. Growing up in the Mediterranean, she spent her summers collecting wildflowers and mixing them with leaves, sand, and water. More recently, during COVID, she played with an assortment of plants, herbs, and fruit peels, heating them on a stove and extracting a kaleidoscope of different hues. “I swear my mom sees a wider spectrum of color than most people,” Lyore laughed.
In addition to their full-sized candles that last a whole evening, GLŌAM makes mini versions, perfect for a bath, meditation session, or household task. The clean burn of natural beeswax, Lyore noted, creates negative ions, the same kind made by crashing waves that purifies the air and gives one a feeling of calm and focus.
Right now, Sigal can churn out approximately 100 candles a day, Lyore said, which can get tough when they receive a bulk order of 2,000. To increase production, they recently invested in a bigger dipping carousel and may soon hire some help. But in the meantime, they’re happy with their busy and fulfilling schedule of helping customers “take a moment that is status quo and transforming it into something memorable.”
See gloamgoods.com.
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