South Gate brother-sister duo create candle business that reflects their culture

SOUTH GATE, Calif. (KABC) -- In the garage of a South Gate home, a brother-sister duo started their own candle business.

Luis and Jazmin Garcia, the co-owners of La Vela Creations, sell handmade vegan candles with unique scents that reflect upon their culture and upbringing.

"So, these scents, as soon as we started talking about ideas that reminded about our grandparents...we immediately thought about these two," said Luis Garcia, as he pointed to their 'Ariel' and 'Foca' laundry detergent scented candles. "Because these are the types of soaps our grandma would use to wash our clothes."

The decision of starting their own business happened after they opened up a Christmas present in 2018.

"Someone gifted me a bigger brand candle," said Jazmin. "We were with our family and we started thinking like, that there isn't many candles out there that remind us of like grandma grandpa or home. That gave us the idea."

From that idea, they learned how to make candles on their own by watching YouTube videos. After some trial and error, they started selling a few scents like café de olla (traditional Mexican coffee), flan and champurrado.

"It smells like coffee with milk...like my country, El Salvador," said Maria Hernandez, an L.A. resident who was smelling La Vela Creations' candles. "It's important to have a variety of candles"

Now they carry over 45 scents, which includes a Selena inspired candle and a 'Taquero Mucho' candle, which sounds like I love you a lot in English and smells like cotton candy.

"It's really good to have a business of our own that we're able to share with other people who that will also bring back those memories."

They mostly sell their product at pop-ups around Los Angeles County.

Instagram: @lavelacreations