With the thousands of exhibitors at NY NOW, the summer-market trade show that wrapped up Aug. 15 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, odds were we would run into someone we know when we visited the show Aug. 13.
And we indeed saw a number of companies with local connections – most notably Kevin Burke and David Kimelman of Burkelman, the Cold Spring design shop first featured in WAG’s July 2016 issue.
Running into the guys in the lobby, we said hello – and wondered if they were shopping for their boutique.
No, we learned – they were first-time exhibitors, so we made a point to check out their booth during the afternoon.
“We’ve had our collection over a year,” Burke said, noting they do sell wholesale but were at the show to attract new retailers.
The line of 100 percent soy-wax, cotton-wick candles – hand-poured in New York – offers approximately 60 hours of burn time for each of the eight signature scents.
The candles retail for $38 – affordable luxury, Burke says – and include playful names such as Welcome to the Vortex, Night Moves and Princess Jasmine Sparkles.
The bestseller, though is That Hudson Valley Candle, a mix of fire, tobacco leaves and moss that, Burke noted, has turned into a year-round favorite, evoking both a wooden stove warming a winter’s day – or a summer campfire.
The booth, filled with samples of each scent, also included the shop’s trademark disco ball – which Burke once told us was “kind of our mascot.”
And here it was again lighting the way in a most glittering fashion.
As Burke joked – or was he serious? – “We always travel with a disco ball.”
Burkelman is at 101 Main St. in Cold Spring. For more, visit shopburkelman.com.
– Mary Shustack
