Narrator: This massive Trudon candle
will set you back $660.
Sylvie uses this contraption
to make sure each of the five wicks is perfectly straight
as she fills the glass container
with specially formulated wax.
Narrator: That's why Christine will spend
the 2 ½ hours it takes
to straighten 3,000 wicks on these smaller candles by hand.
And while these cost less than the five-wick candle,
at $52 each, they're still more than three times the price
of a $17 Yankee candle of similar size.
Every step of the process
at Trudon's candle factory in Normandy, France,
has been honed over 350 years
to create candles that burn evenly,
smoke-free, and don't sputter.
So, what made these candles good enough
for Marie Antoinette?
And why are they so expensive?
Trudon goes back to 1643,
and back then, its products served an essential purpose.
Narrator: You could find the bright white,
clean-burning candles everywhere
from the churches of Paris
to Marie Antoinette's chambers in Versailles.
Narrator: The basics of candlemaking are simple.
Pour melted wax into a glass with a wick.
But a luxury candle must take those base components
and elevate them.
Many cheaper candles use a base
of petroleum-based paraffin wax,
while luxury brands tend to opt for natural waxes.
Up until 2018, Trudon used blends
featuring beeswax in its candles.
Narrator: Now, the company uses some paraffin wax
but relies on vegetable oil for most of its candles.
Narrator: The wax melts overnight,
and fragrances are added in the morning
right before pouring.
Trudon's most popular scented candle is filled by machine.
But its highest-end offerings,
like this $660 great-size candle,
are filled by hand.
Narrator: Sylvie Lemore glues five large wicks
to the bottom of the jar with a squeeze of silicon.
Narrator: And when the wicks are dry, in goes the wax.
Narrator: As the wax dries, it constricts,
leaving space around the edges
and deformities that require a second pour.
It takes hours to dry completely,
but there's really only one way to know.
Narrator: But before Sylvie can complete the second pour,
it's time to pinch the wicks.
And same goes for the small versions.
Narrator: Christine tugs and straightens each wick.
Narrator: Crooked or wilted wicks can affect
the evenness of the burn.
Narrator: And not all wicks are created equal.
The lab optimizes wick sizes based on
the chemical formulas of the different scents.
But not all of Trudon's offerings are meant to be burned,
even when they do have wicks.
Narrator: Sylvia Bernal has worked at Trudon
for three years,
but she has more than a decade of experience
making wax busts.
The bust collection is unique to Trudon.
It's a collaboration
with the French National Museum Council,
which provided the first molds.
Narrator: But even if they'll never see a flame,
these wax sculptures are still created
with the same attention to detail
as Trudon's more traditional offerings.
Narrator: But the mold only does part of the work.
Narrator: She can also add material.
Narrator: And if there's a hole too big to fill
or some other major flaw ...
Narrator: The busts are made from paraffin wax,
sometimes with a little added support, a taper candle,
to hold everything in place.
Narrator: One of the final steps
is lightly melting the foot of the bust
on a hot plate to flatten it.
Narrator: Nathalie Egbert is working on improving
Trudon's wax formulas even further.
Here, candles burn in olfactory chambers all day long.
She periodically evaluates their scent
and tests how well they burn.
Narrator: Evaluating the smell of new candles
is the most subjective part of her job.
Narrator: She notes her feedback
and works with the company's various development teams
to perfect the formula.
Narrator: The lab is also responsible for quality control.
It's this attention to detail
that sets luxury candles apart.
The global luxury candle market is expected to be worth
more than a billion dollars by 2030.