From discarded glass bottles, he built a candle empire

In most people's eyes, Adam Fetsch, who never even attended university, managed to build a business out of making candles.

Don't underestimate his candles - by 2015, Candlefish products were being sold at 300 stores across the United States, 25 shops in Japan, and two stores in Canada and Mexico.

"I don't like doing the same thing all the time," Adam said. "I've never stayed at any job for more than a year or two." In 2008, to escape the harsh winters of Indiana, Adam moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where he found a job at a bar.

"At the time I noticed that lots of wine and champagne bottles were being thrown into the trash. What a waste," Adam said.

"Couldn't they be used for something?" he thought.

So Adam set up a saw in the backyard of his rented house to cut the bottles in half, hoping to repurpose these empty bottles.

His original hope was to make drinking glasses, but because he lacked the proper polishing tools and had no patience for polishing, making glasses from empty bottles ended up like many of his past projects - abandoned as soon as he hit an obstacle.

But one day opportunity arrived: he discovered a wine-related gift market, in which candles and fragrance products were among the most common choices for gifts.

So Adam went back to the backyard, poured wax into those half-finished cut bottles, and took these homemade candles to stores to sell.

Although the rims of the candle cups made from wine bottles were still rough, the owner of the first store he approached bought six on the spot. Another store owner, Magda Pelzer, who ran one of the largest local gift shops, was even more captivated by these candle cups with their strong handmade feel - because of the product's uniqueness, she ordered 12 cases in one go.

Adam had discovered a blue ocean in the gift market.

Many gift shop owners gave Adam lots of feedback on his handmade candles, and Adam listened carefully and made various improvements.

In the autumn of 2010, Adam left the restaurant where he worked and decided to make candles full-time. He rented a 100-sq-ft small warehouse behind Tommy Condon's bar and restaurant in downtown Charleston, where he spent each day soaking the labels off recycled wine bottles to remove them, personally cutting and polishing the glass bottles. Every weekend he went to nearby markets to sell his handmade candle cups.

Candlefish was originally the name of a fish species from the North Pacific, also known as the "candlefish," because during spawning season it is rich in oil; in the past, people often dried the oily candlefish and used them as torches or candles for lighting. Inspired by this, Adam named his candle brand "Candlefish," giving the word an entirely new meaning.

It wasn't until March 2011 that the Candlefish business really took off. Adam began focusing on maintaining the consistency and quality of the candles. In 2012, his business expanded to the point where he needed to rent a 7,000-sq-ft warehouse and hire 11 employees to fulfil orders.

He hired Stitch Design Co. to refine the brand and launched 8 wine-scented candles, such as Merlot and Pinot Noir, plus four seasonal fragrances including Mimosa, Sangria, Spiked Cider, and Wine.

"Candlefish is not just candles - it's a fragrance-related business, from the visuals and fragrance oils to the candle design," Adam said.

Each Candlefish candle retails for 24 to 30 US dollars, and when the candle burns out, the empty vessel can be refilled with new candle oil for 2 US dollars.

Beyond making unique products, Candlefish also opened physical storefronts. Whenever a new product launched, Candlefish would always hold parties to celebrate, letting guests experience the fun of making candles together; the workshop experiences not only brought the public closer to the brand but also helped people gain a deeper understanding of the details of scented candle making, in turn establishing a delicate, unique brand impression. The latter two stores regularly host hands-on workshops, covering not only general candle-making instruction but also extending to other fragrance courses, such as essential oil making.

"Here you can find all kinds of novel scents," Adam said.

The inspiration behind each collection is intriguing - besides the classic wine-scented candle "REWINED" series, there is the "42 Pressed" series created in collaboration with the 42 Pressed design team, inspired by the scents of 42 cities; a little creativity is injected into the glass bottles along with the wax, turning fragrance into a kind of memory, like map clues that lead people to relive the memory of a city and find a scent that feels both familiar and captivating.

The staff at Candlefish stores carefully recommend fragrances according to people's different needs, and use a small card to record the customer's preferences and the numbers of the fragrances they have tried - after all, smelling is such a subjective matter, and only through constant trial and experience will you find your own unique scent. The small card is also kept so that when the customer visits again, they can more accurately find the right scent.

Beyond constantly innovating in its product range, Adam also introduced the concept of a fragrance library. Whether at the physical store in Ponce City Market in Atlanta or at pop-up stores, the "Fragrance Library" - designed like a library with staggered candle display cabinets - strongly attracts people's attention.

For Adam, Candlefish represents an overall experience woven together from sight, smell, and touch.

It is not merely a store wafting with all kinds of fragrances - through the various hands-on candle-making processes, people gain a deeper experience of smell. Adam hopes customers will open up their senses, read and absorb comprehensively, and wander through a library built from layers of fragrance.