Spreading the word like wildfire: Fiona Marantelli revives the lost trade of ancient candle making

It’s one of the first questions that arise when meeting new people.

While many will reply by explaining they work in an office job, or perhaps a trade, some provoke an element of surprise with their unique response.

Chandler, or candle maker, Fiona Marantelli is the perfect example of the latter.

Running a beekeeping and candle making business, Fiona also teaches drama and public speaking on a part-time basis, just to “mix up” her week.

Fiona’s career in traditional candle making is the product of a handful of factors.

Having always had a passion for candles, one which was accentuated during a year abroad in Scandinavia, it wasn’t long before Fiona began making her own.

However, allergies and asthma forced Fiona to put her love for making and burning candles on hold.

Then, out of nowhere, everything changed.

“Around nine years ago I got a beehive, and then I got two beehives,” Fiona laughs.

“When I harvested my first lot of honey I looked at the little block of wax, and thought beeswax doesn’t cause asthma and allergies, so I could make some candles out of it.”

Once she had successfully melted and poured her first lot of candles, Fiona decided to embark on a truly unique mission.

“I was a theology and biblical studies major at university; it makes me unemployable but it does give me an interest in the liturgical and medieval history of candles,” she says.

“When I looked around, I noticed that nobody makes candles anymore like they did thousands of years ago, so I taught myself to do just that.”

It was only a matter of time before businesses and individuals were drawn to Fiona’s unique trade and began requesting some of her traditionally made candles.

When we say traditionally made, we mean it in the most literal sense, in that Fiona manually creates her candles using an array of innovative contraptions, just as people did before machines existed.

In basic terms, Fiona harvests honey from her beehives and collects the wax, before applying various filtration methods to clean it.

The beeswax is then placed in a pot which is surrounded by hot water to keep it at a stable temperature.

Fiona then takes a wick and dips it in the wax, keeping it straight, before removing it and waiting for the wax to set. The process is then repeated until a candle is produced.

Using this method, one candle is made at a time; however, due to high demand, Fiona has devised a “frame” which allows her to make 20 thick dinner candles or 60 thin church candles at once.

Fiona now owns four of these frames, which are the product of her inventiveness and broad imagination.

“I’ve adjusted them to the shapes that I could gather from really foreign things, such as a second hand hot water urn, and a stainless steel drum that I found on somebody’s hard rubbish collection,” she explains.

“As anyone in the lost trades, I’ve found random objects that I have adapted to do my work.”

While Fiona now has five beehives in her backyard, she also buys commercial wax from fellow beekeepers who own up to 500 hives, to make more candles at a time.

Fiona will return for a second year to showcase her rare skills at the famed Lost Trades Fair, to be held at the Kyneton Racecourse over the Labour Day long weekend, even setting up an area for children to have a turn at dipping their own candles.

“It’s a great event which gets so much interest; so many people come and visit, and they all have intelligent questions to ask."

The woman behind the trade

Just as intriguing as her rare career, is Fiona’s family history.

The talented powerhouse is a fourth-generation Italian, whose great-grandfather brought the Marantelli name to Australia in 1882, migrating from Villa di Tirano in the most northern tip of Italy due to the agricultural depression which struck the Italian Alps in the 1870s.

“My great-grandfather and his brother cheated and snuck out of the country, because if you wanted to emigrate you had to register, and in registering you could be conscripted into the military,” she explains.

“They hiked out over the Swiss Alps into Switzerland and then crossed to Germany, where they left for Australia.”

Since reconnecting with relatives in Villa di Tirano in 1982, following the 100^th anniversary of the Marantelli name in Australia, Fiona still keeps in touch with her Italian family to this day, including her cousin Frank, who recently became mayor of the village.

Years ago, after wrapping up a year abroad in Scandinavia, Fiona travelled to Italy to meet her long-lost relatives.

"I didn't go to Milan or Rome; I went to a tiny village in the Alps and milked cows and raked hay the whole time."

Though certainly venturing off the beaten track, Fiona explains that her time spent in Italy discovering where her great-grandfather had come from was ten times more valuable than a photo in front of the Colosseum.