From IKNA Handcrafts and Grundfarm Wax Art to today’s candle making: Discover our family history, handcrafted candles, and our values. Since the 1970s, we have been creating and teaching the art of wax work with heart and hand.
From the first relief candles of the 1970s to today's candlecraft: our family story of wax art, craftsmanship, and the special significance of light.
A life's work of wax, color, and light
Our story begins in the early 1970s with Claudia and Carly Ihl and their shared passion for the wonderful material of wax.
Claudia Ihl, founder of our candle manufactory and today's senior manager, has shaped our wax art for more than five decades with creativity, craftsmanship, and a fine sense of colors, shapes, and symbols.
What began with bold ideas, a lot of manual work, and a love of craftsmanship developed over decades into a special life's work. For candles were never just simple light sources to us. Even back then, they could express feelings, memories, and personal stories.
1971–1975: IKNA Handwerk and the first relief candles
We took our first creative steps under the name IKNA Handwerk.
At that time, extraordinary relief candles with motifs from South America were created. The molds for them were carved from heavy stone slabs and produced as special-order items at the Granitwerk Müller in Wirsberg. There was a special family connection to this granite factory, as Claudia Ihl came from this background.
Thus, two completely different crafts met right from the beginning: the heavy, enduring work with stone and the fine, malleable design with wax.
From 1975: Grundfarm Wachskunst
Our family business further developed under the name Grundfarm Wachskunst. In the 1970s and 1980s, artistic motif candles with relief-like wax images were created, above all.
Using special techniques, including the paint-spray technique, liquid colored wax was applied with millimeter precision. This resulted in detailed motifs with a truly unique signature.
Our wax art was also represented at the international Frankfurt trade fair at that time. Twice a year, we presented our work to major buyers, specialist retailers, and resellers. In this way, many of our candles found their way far beyond Weidenberg – into shops, churches, homes, and families.
The 1990s: Candles for special life moments
Over the years, our work changed. In addition to the artistic motif candles, personal occasion candles gradually took center stage: baptism candles, wedding candles, First Communion and Confirmation candles, birthday, memorial, and funeral candles.
Fine wax applications, names, symbols, and personal colors made each light something special. More and more people visited us directly in our workshop to bring their ideas to life together with us.
Thus, our wax art continued to develop – from an artistically designed motif to a personal candle for a person or a meaningful life moment.
Since the 2000s: Light catchers and new ideas
Time and again, we heard from our customers that our candles were actually too good to light. From this wish, new light objects were born: our wax light catchers and light bowls.
They can be illuminated from within while the artistically designed wax shell remains intact. Our later-developed elf catcher also belongs to this development. Originally designed for our own children, it became an imaginative light object full of magic and stories.
All these developments show what has defined our craft from the very beginning: We preserve our knowledge, remain curious, and continually create new things.
Back to our roots – we make light
Even in the 1990s, we were active at medieval markets, showing people our craft. Back then, we were the light makers.
Today, our wax art also brings us back to its linguistic roots: making light. It is as if a circle is closing.
Beginning and end are reflected in our work with the wonderful material of wax. It can be warmed, liquefied, shaped, and redesigned again and again. From this, images, symbols, candles, and lights are created – as different as people and their stories.
Life, too, is full of transformation: beginnings and goodbyes, joy and sorrow, bright hours and dark times.
We are light makers, candle artists, modern mystics, and companions through light and darkness – for every conceivable occasion.
This is not something we only became today. This connection to craftsmanship, art, and the significance of light has been there from the beginning. Our values have been strengthened over generations and have grown into a shared self-understanding. They live in our craft, in the careful selection of our materials, in our respectful treatment of people and nature, and in the joy of passing on our knowledge.
What united us from the beginning has grown over the years and has always taken on new forms. Today, all of this finds expression in a name that has accompanied us for a long time: Lichtermacherei.
And we love what we do.
In our candlecraft, we do not simply create candles. We create personal lights for special people, meaningful life moments, and times when words alone are not enough for us.
The name "Lichtermacherei" is far more than a beautiful designation for our workshop. It combines the history of an ancient craft with our family history and the path we continue to walk together.
It reminds us how valuable a light once was – and how valuable it can still be today.
From precious light to conscious light
In the past, a candle was a necessary and precious light source. It accompanied people at work, during celebrations, prayer, and gatherings. But even back then, light was more than mere brightness: It stood for hope, memory, faith, and connection.
Today, a press of a button is enough to illuminate a room. And yet, we continue to light candles. Perhaps because sometimes we need more than light for our eyes.
A small flame invites us to pause, to remember, to celebrate, or simply to enjoy a quiet moment.
In the past, candles illuminated our rooms. Today, they may also touch our thoughts and hearts.
Our candlecraft today – a craft that lives on
Since 2023, we have continued Grundfarm Wachskunst into its second generation with Dinah Henke. The life's work of our founder, Claudia Ihl, remains our valuable foundation. With her experience and love of wax, she continues to guide our workshop to this day.
We maintain traditional techniques, develop new design ideas, and use high-quality, carefully selected waxes, colors, and materials. For us, quality begins with the very foundations of our candles and light objects.
In addition to classic occasion candles, we design ritual candles, Rauhnacht candles, seasonal lights, and personal light companions – always with our own unique signature.
Passing on knowledge: practical instruction in the workshop and in online courses
We are also practical instructors. In our workshop and in our online courses, we pass on the knowledge we have cultivated over decades. We demonstrate design techniques and guide people in becoming creative with wax themselves.
It is important to us that not only beautiful results are created. Those who create with us should also get to know the materials, develop their own ideas, and discover the joy of craftsmanship.
Whether through craftsmanship, creativity, spirituality, old customs, or the joy of a beautiful light: with us, everyone is welcome to find their own path.
A light for your story
Whether birth or goodbye, wedding or new beginning, a grand celebration or a quiet moment: we create lights for people and their deeply personal stories.
With more than five decades of experience, selected materials, craftsmanship, and our love for an art that can always transform itself.
With heart and hand. With imagination and experience. And with our love of light.
Welcome to our candlecraft – Grundfarm Wachskunst in Weidenberg.
Your light makers
