Wild Berry Incense: Interview with Incense Craftsman Marc Biales

Wild Berry Incense is a company that offers incense in an array of aromas that are designed to make people feel relaxed and at-home. Originally founded as a storefront for handcrafted leather goods in 1971, owner Marc Biales later learned how to make incense and added that to his retail trade. By the 1990s, the quality of his incense had become so well known that Marc was able to sell the Wild Berry brand to other shops. Wild Berry incense is now sold worldwide and is regarded as an olfactory pleasure. Marc recently granted an exclusive interview where he discussed his career and more.

Meagan Meehan (MM): You started out as a leather craftsman, so how did you learn that trade?

Marc Biales (MB): When I was in college, I took a course called introduction of craft materials. Part of the class was an introduction to leatherwork. I started doing leather work as a hobby.

MM: What was it like to open your own store in the 1970s and how did you keep it afloat?

MB: I opened the Wild Berry Leather shop in 1971. It was in a house that had several small shops, each in its own room. The rent was very affordable and I use that space to do my leather work. Most of my business was at craft fairs on weekends. I was able to get by since my business overhead was low and housing in our college town was pretty cheap. There were lots of small independent businesses that opened in those freewheeling times. Luckily, The Wild Berry was one that survived.

MM: How did you come up with the name “Wild Berry”?

MB: Before I opened the store, I was hiking in Houston woods park. I came upon some wild berries in the woods and for some reason that name clicked.

MM: When did you first decide to try incense making and what most interested you about the process?

MB: Early on I met a leather worker at a craft fair. He had a store on the west side of Cleveland and next to that store his wife had a candle shop. They made incense in the candle shop. They were very kind to me and explained to me how they made incense. So, from the very early days I was making incense along with my leather goods.

MM: How many different types/scents of incense have you worked with?

MB: Over the years we worked with hundreds of fragrances. We sampled lots of things. Most of which don’t really work in incense. For a fragrance to work well in incense it has the smell throughout the stick as it does on the blotter out of the bottle. It also has to stay true to its fragrance overtime. We do a lot of research to come up with great fragrances.

MM: Be honest, which are your favorite incense scents?

MB: Right now, there are a few that I like a lot. One is called “Wizard” and another is called “Champa Flower.” Our vanilla fragrance is wonderful.

MM: How many scents do you currently sell and are any especially popular or unusual?

MB: We make about 100 fragrances. Our Best seller is called “Dragon’s Blood.” We also have one called “Fizzy Pop” which believe it or not actually smells carbonated.

MM: Why did your incense suddenly grow in popularity in the 1990s?

MB: It’s hard to say what exactly caused the sudden popularity. I just think people just love a great fragrance. The 90s were after the hippie era so it was not just a cover-up the fragrance of pot in their rooms. There was a boom for other areas of fragrance that weren’t just candles.

MM: What are some of the benefits of incense aromas that you wish more people knew about?

MB: Of the many ways to deliver fragrance into a room incense seems to have the best throw. Our fragrances are really terrific and people seem to understand that. There are many studies indicating that fragrance really does have an impact on the brain, usually positive.

MM: Your shop also sells some pretty cool incense holders in an array of designs and styles! How do you find such a mix?

MB: Sometimes manufacturers of incense burners find us. Mostly we go to trade shows and see what’s available. We’re always looking.

MM: What does it feel like to know that your incense is sold all over the world?

MB: Thanks for asking; it really feels terrific especially when somebody comes back from overseas they say “hey we saw your incense in” whichever country they visited.

MM: How do you hope Wild Berry Incense continues to evolve over the next five years?

MB: I think there’s a lot of room for growth in the incense business. We would like to get our incense to a lot more people. It’s an item that makes people happy!

MM: What are your ultimate goals for the future and is there anything else that you would like to mention?

MB: Yes, I would like to say that our product is really the best incense on the market. We hear that all the time and have a huge loyal fan base. I guess we’ll just have to see where this path takes us. I really need to give a shout out to all the people that work with us at The Wild Berry Incense Factory. These are smart, hard-working people that really care about making a top-notch product. First my business partner, Roger Atkin, who joined me in 1994 when we started wholesaling our incense to other retailers; he is very smart and runs the day-to-day factory operations. I also want to thank Shane Curtis, who has run our office and maintains our computer network and has been with us since 1996. Lastly, I have 2 long time office people that charm our customers over the phone — Kim Windland and Kriss Reppert that I want to give a huge thank you too!