New York, NY · Est. 2021 · Founded by Erica Werber
In 2021 Erica Werber ordered 2,000 candles as a pandemic hobby, recruited her kids as scent samplers while they were doing remote learning, and figured it would take a year or two to sell through them. She sold 10,000 in nine months. Literie started as a love letter to New York City -- the bodega flowers, the hot nut carts on 28th Street, a walk through Central Park -- and became one of the most recognized candle brands in the country. Clean-burning, vegan, and built on the belief that scent is the fastest way home.
Erica Werber wasn't trying to build a brand. She was trying to get through a pandemic. In 2020, with her other work slowing down and her kids doing school remotely at the kitchen table, she started developing candles -- filling the hours, testing scent profiles with her children, trying to bottle the specific smells of the city she loved. The hot roasted nut cart on the corner. The flowers at the bodega on a Friday night. The particular green-and-water smell of Central Park in the morning.
She ordered the minimum -- 2,000 candles -- and fully expected to spend two years selling them down to friends. She sold 10,000 in nine months. Literie launched in 2021 and hasn't slowed down since: stocked at Macy's, Sephora, and Neighborhood Goods; partnerships with UrbanStems, the US Open (sold out three years running), Emily in Paris, and the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup. Every candle is made with a vegan soy and coconut wax blend, phthalate-free and non-toxic, designed to burn cleanly and smell exactly like what it says on the label. The name Literie is French for bedding -- a nod to the comfort and intimacy of a well-lit room.
On a registry, Literie is the candle category that actually gets used -- specific enough to feel personal, beautiful enough to display, and good enough to reorder for years.
