A YOUNG Airlie Beach local has recently celebrated her self-made business’s second birthday, while her business continues to grow and grow.
Taylagrace is a home décor business that sells standard jar candles, as well as décor candles, including abstract shapes, shells, bubble and rainbow candles, and male and female figure candles.
They also sell bath salts and bath oils, house and linen sprays and reed and car diffusers.
Taylagrace founder Tayla Johannesen, aged 22, was born and raised in Airlie Beach and started her self-named business ‘Taylagrace’, in March 2021.
“People always love that at the markets…people say ‘wow look at you – a 22-year-old doing this instead of drinking and doing stupid things – go you’,” she said.
“Business has grown rapidly this year; it’s been amazing the amount of wholesale orders I’ve been receiving.”
Ms Johannesen also works full time at PRD Real Estate, where she will soon begin making settlement packages for local customers, who purchase their homes through PRD, with candles, house and linen sprays, and other homely products.
“I have always loved being creative, with cooking and sewing and making things myself, so I turned that into a hobby and ordered a candle kit and started selling them to my family and close friends,” Ms Johannesen said.
“Then it became a popular thing, and I started down at the Airlie foreshore markets and, from then, it’s just taken off to what it is today.
“I’m stocked in two stores locally and about to be stocked in two more in the next month; it just took off on its own, with having an Instagram and Facebook, but also with locals supporting locals.”
Taylagrace is stocked in ‘Now and Then Clothing’ and ‘The Beauty Room’, two local Airle Beach businesses.
Ms Johannesen often takes on custom-made orders, recently making a set of custom wedding renewal candles for a couple.
“There’s quite a few candle makers here, so you need to stand out from the crowd,” she said.
Visit www.taylagrace.com.co to check out the entire Taylagrace range and visit Taylagrace on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date.
