Meet Loree Sandler: At my youngest son’s 12th birthday party, while his face glowed behind the lovely cake we had baked together, I watched the grotesquely villainous waxy little candles killing themselves on the freshly whipped icing. Generic, mass-produced, and entirely artificial, the candles didn’t deserve the pedestal upon which they puddled. I'm trained as an architect - devoted to details, and birthday candles were ripe for revision. Thus began my journey to improve upon a tired tradition.