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Turn your story into scent.

Custom candles created for museums, historic sites, and cultural institutions—extending the visitor experience beyond the museum.

Explore Custom Development

More than Private Label


Not just your logo on our candles.
Candles created for your institution.

The best museum merchandise belongs to the story it represents.

The Lost Wax Company approaches custom candles as product development—not simply a logo drop or decoration.

Begin with an exhibition, collection, place, object, person, or idea, and together we can create a fragrance experience that feels distinctly yours.

Two Ways We Can Collaborate

Simplified Program

White Label

Customize our products.

For smaller quantities, shorter timelines, or simpler projects, select an existing Lost Wax product and make it your own through custom or co-branded presentation.

  • Existing Lost Wax fragrances
  • Proven vessel and wax formulation
  • Custom or co-branded label
  • Institution-specific storytelling
  • Streamlined development
  • Ideal for institutions with simpler needs
Signature Program

Custom Product Development

Start with your story.

For institutions seeking something truly their own, we can develop a candle from the ground up, making creative and material decisions around the story the finished product needs to tell.

  • Custom fragrance development
  • Naming, storytelling and interpretive direction
  • Vessel selection
  • Wax and formulation options
  • Wick and performance development
  • Branding and visual style
  • Custom label and packaging
  • Manufacturing and logistics
  • Ideal for larger institutions who want full control

The development process

From Story to Shelf

  • Your Story

    We begin with the source material: an exhibition, collection, object, place, person, anniversary, or institutional idea worth translating into fragrance.

  • Creative Direction

    Together, we define the product’s purpose, audience, visual language, scope, and the story it should tell on the shelf.

  • Scent & Materials

    We develop or select the fragrance, vessel, wax, wick, label materials, and packaging appropriate to the concept and budget.

  • Design & Production

    The concept becomes a finished retail product through branding, packaging development, testing, production planning, and manufacturing.

  • Launch & Reorder

    Your products arrive retail-ready, with production and replenishment planned around the needs of your store.

We know museum stores

The Lost Wax Company brings years of museum-store product development experience to custom fragrance. Founded by longtime museum retail professional and Museum Store Association member Jay Thomson, we understand that museum merchandise is not simply another item on a shelf: it extends the visitor experience and creates a tangible connection to a collection, exhibition, place, or story.

That understanding shapes the way we approach every institutional project—from the first conversation through the finished product.

Proud vendor member of the Museum Store Association.

Value Engineering

Build the right program for your goals.

Custom does not have to mean one size, one quantity, or one level of investment. We can help shape the scope of a program around your audience, budget, sales expectations, timeline, and appetite for exclusivity—whether that means one highly focused candle or an entire fragrance collection.

  • One Signature Product

    A streamlined custom or co-branded product for a smaller museum, a special exhibition, an anniversary, or a first step into custom fragrance.

  • A Coordinated Assortment

    Build on a strong concept with multiple scents, select vessel sizes, or complementary formats while keeping the program cohesive and manageable.

  • A Complete Collection

    We can develop a broader line—seven or eight candles, multiple sizes, complementary wax melts, and other coordinated extensions—engineered as one unified retail story.
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For Museums and Cultural Institutions

What story can we tell together?

Whether you have a fully formed product concept, or simply a story worth exploring, we'd love to hear about your institution and what you have in mind.

Start a conversation