In early June, more than 4 million afternoon television viewers saw Ellen DeGeneres unveil Vunder Brands’ new double-walled candleholder, the brainchild of Michigan home décor entrepreneur Adam Kasha.
The popular host of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” revealed the Ann Arbor-based company’s Tahiti Tealight by opening a Vunder Brand subscription box on the air.
The new design allows hospitality professionals and home decorators to quickly transform and personalize the watertight, resealable space between the hand-blown glass walls of the candleholder by filling it with a material of their choice.
“Through my experience in the decorative filler space, I discovered an opportunity to introduce a premium and versatile décor option that’s stylish and functional,” Kasha says. “Vunder is expanding product offerings for consumers through our double-walled, airtight containers, and our hope is to offer a beautiful, customizable design component for homes, hospitality, and wedding venues.”
Kasha is an avid rock and mineral collector who started a company called Akasha Crystals that sourced semiprecious stone figurines, natural minerals, and jewelry from around the globe and sold them wholesale to more than 1,000 independent retailers worldwide.
By 2002, Akasha had become the leading U.S. mass retail brand in decorative fillers — the stones, sands, shells, sea glass, and other accessories that complement the display of flowers and candles. Akasha was recognized nationally by Inc. magazine as one of
the 5,000 fastest-growing companies for six consecutive years from 2007
to 2012.
The Vunder Brand products allow designers to use any customized material separately from flowers or candles in their own space.