Our Story

Established in 1985, Marklin Candle Design has set itself apart in providing quality handcrafted candles and liturgical furnishings to churches throughout the world. Drawing upon thirty years of experience we have expanded our product line to include high-quality candles and furnishings for the home. We specialize in custom candles for individual and church use.

in the beginning . . . 

The story of Marklin Candle begins with the gift of the bee and proceeds by the work of human hands.

For nearly thirty years, our candles - individually handcrafted from the finest beeswax - have burned in thousands of churches  "to overcome the darkness" of the night.

Beauty and artistry are wed in a Marklin Candle, "a pillar, which glowing fire ignites for God's honor." 

Marklin Candle 'This Is the Night' Publication

Marklin Candle's 'This Is the Night' publication highlights the significance of the 'Exsultet' in the ritual of lighting a beeswax paschal candle each Easter.


Martin Marklin, the founder of Marklin Candle, was born the seventh son to his parents, who named him after their pastor and liturgical pioneer, Martin Hellriegel. While serving at Holy Cross Church in St. Louis in the early 1970’s, Martin keenly observed the large Easter candle with its intricate wax decorations. This one-of-a-kind candle was fashioned at the hands of a parishioner, whose technique was known to her alone. When she no longer provided the candle to the parish, Martin drew on his recollection, and—in his parents’ basement—began to recreate the beautiful candles he remembered as a youth. He carved designs into the candle, removed the wax, and poured molten colored wax into the grooves. This unique method of decoration served as the foundation of Martin’s new company. For over thirty years, Marklin Candle Design has provided handcrafted beeswax candles to thousands of churches around the globe, hundreds of cathedrals in this country, and three Pontiff’s on their visits to America. Martin pursued his life-long passion in liturgy with studies at Notre Dame and Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, completing its two-year course in Liturgical Design Consultancy.

Martin added liturgical furnishings to his repertoire and expanded his manufacturing facility to include wood and metal fabrication. Today, Martin and his wife Christine, along with their children, work with talented artisans at their New Hampshire facility to produce the finest of liturgical candles and furnishings.

The Marklin Candle factory is situated on fourteen acres along the bucolic Contoocook River. This land is now home to Marklin’s Windhover Farm and retail store, Der Markt at Marklin. The retail store carries a wide variety of premium gift items including our very own Marklin Candle and Windhover Farm products.

The animals of Windhover Farm play a vital role in maintaining the land around the factory, providing compost for the garden and keeping us involved in caring for our environment. On the farm, the Marklin family tends to a large organic vegetable garden, three sheep, four goats, hundreds of chickens, a dozen ducks, a few guinea hens, a rabbit and dog, along with millions and millions of honey bees.

The video below tells the story of our candle manufacturing: