Meet the Beekeeper
Kara Brook Brown
Artist-turned-beekeeper Kara Brook Brown paints and sculpts with encaustic, a medium made from beeswax and pigments. Encaustic isn't exactly the most common material to work with, though it's certainly old - it dates all the way back to the times of ancient Egypt!
In creating her artwork, Kara found that she was going through beeswax much faster than she had anticipated. So, she decided to start raising bees to have a source of wax right at her fingertips. Quickly, though, Kara realized that there was so much more to beekeeping than just collecting wax: the health of the whole natural world depends heavily on the existance of the honeybee. Kara started pouring as much passion and energy into the apiary as she did her art, and Waxing Kara was born.
One of the obviously overlooked results of beekeeping was honey - lots and lots of it, too! Soon after she began beekeeping, she started sharing this honey with friends and family, and launched a small set of goods for the home and body. In almost no time, a small but committed team turned a small beekeeping operation into a full-fledged company creating healthful, nurturing Bee Inspired® goods.
A Beekeeper’s Journey
Waxing Kara was formally launched in November 2012 in Kara's home studio, where she packaged and shipped out just a few products at a time. Come September 2013, Kara made the leap into her first production space and small retail store, before once again upgrading to a commercial space with a full-scale production lab two years later. Now, in 2022, we're preparing to move once again - our new facility will house two labs, a dedicated honey room, warehouse, fulfillment center, offices, and upgraded retail space!
Waxing Kara has always been more than a honey company - that's why you can find our products in over 250 specialty stores, spas, and apothecaries across the country! From artisanlly-crafted body products to gourmet treats and goods for the home, Kara's goal has always been to create unique, functional goods that spread a message of the importance (and the beauty) of the honeybee.
Our Thanks to You
Love from Kara
Close your eyes and picture this: pastel-colored beehives warmed under the summer sun. Dew covered meadows peppered with native grasses and wildflowers. A light breeze dancing off of the coast, tickling rows of lush lavender. This is Chesterhaven Beach Farm, where not only our apiary is located, but where we draw so much inspiration from nature. It may not seem like a big deal, but you are making a difference by purchasing our Bee Inspired® goods: you're uplifting our farm and our bees, and you're helping to support the careers of a small but very dedicated team.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you - to me, you're a hero. The importance of bees to our planet's sustainability is often misunderstood. Bees are responsible for one-third of the food we eat. The preciousness of honey, especially its nurturing and healing properties is nature’s gift that we are sharing. Our mission is to craft beautiful and functional handmade goods in a sustainable way with the hope to inspire you daily. I hope that you love our Bee Inspired® goods, and will continue to show us love as we grow and change as a business.
