Built to Last

Monmouth County has a certain way of attracting newcomers so that they never leave. Take, for instance, the story of Mike Considine and Olivia Abt, founders of Lovelight Handmade on Main Street in Bradley Beach. Mike, a Sea Girt native, first laid eyes on Olivia, originally from Stamford, Connecticut, while visiting a friend at the University of Vermont. Ironically, Olivia doesn’t remember meeting Mike. However, a couple years later, Olivia was visiting a friend in Asbury Park, Mike ran into her again, and their love story began. What also sprung out from this love story is Lovelight Handmade, a sustainable candle and pottery brand with a devoted and far-flung customer base.

Beginnings

Back to their meet-cute. It was the summer that Mike was driving for Wally’s, known as “The Goldman Sachs of Transportation.” He was given a last minute and highly rare night off, “which was crazy, so I ended up going to Asbury and running into Olivia and our friend Ava, who also grew up in Sea Girt,” he says. They connected and fell in love, though Olivia was still living in Vermont. It was long distance, but not for long. “I was living in Vermont, working remotely,” Olivia says. “And said, ‘I guess I’ll come down for the summer and live with [Mike] in AP. If it works, I’ll stay.’”

That was 2019. It worked. She stayed. “We did everything fast since the beginning of the relationship, sink or swim. We kept on swimming, and here we are!” says Mike. Olivia adds: “I don’t think we would have grown as fast as we have as a couple unless we had started a company together.” The two have a way of going all-in.

Speaking of swimming, the ocean has a lot to do with how Monmouth County draws so many folks in. “I traded the mountains for the ocean. I never really had a relationship with the water, but dating Mike who has been surfing ever since he could walk, I picked up surfing and it’s become a huge part of my life,” says Olivia.

Another perk? The amazing community Mike and Olivia have found. Olivia’s favorite thing about this area, besides the ocean, and Mike, of course, is the community of entrepreneurs and makers doing their own thing.

Journey to Entrepreneurship

At the time they met, Olivia was working and pursuing a graduate degree in counseling. Mike had a background in carpentry and was working for Andrew Grossman Custom Fabrications, where he found himself managing giant project installations in New York. He had always found satisfaction in working with his hands, but the opportunity to oversee big projects gave him confidence.

“I was entrepreneurially curious,” he says. “Energetically, that got me moving, thinking about how I could create value in an everyday product.” He settled on refillable candles, after finding there was a gap in the market. In the beginning, he approached it with a spirit of experimentation. “I expected to learn a lot. Even if I threw a couple thousand dollars at it and lost it all, I’d have a pretty good education.”

Olivia jumped in too, and they hit the ground running. It was 2020, and they took all the newfound time afforded to them by the pandemic shutdowns and poured themselves into their burgeoning business. They came to the candle market with a focus on sustainability: creating beautiful, non-toxic objects made from local materials meant to be cherished and reused for a lifetime.

Mike had originally envisioned his sustainable candles in glass jars, but something was missing.

“I was used to making things with my hands, and design and craft was not an itch being scratched,” he says. Olivia’s mom is a potter. She suggested we make our own vessels for the refillable candles. We started messing around in her studio, using slabs. There was a lot of overlap with woodworking. After those few beginning sessions, I knew that clay was what I wanted to do. I had always hoped for a moment like that.”

In their early days, they built their business doing farmer and maker markets—part of how they met so many other entrepreneurs they now call friends. But, inspired by glassblower Simon Pierce in Vermont, they dreamed of having a combined showroom and studio space. In 2023, the same year they got married, they opened their own storefront and studio in Bradley Beach. With more space, and without having to pack up their wares and bring them to market every weekend, they have been able to expand their pottery practice and offerings. They were even commissioned to make all the plateware for a new restaurant opening in Princeton.

Terra Earth + Surf in Spring Lake was their first wholesale account. “Kerry was the first person to say ‘I want your stuff.’ She literally explained how wholesale business worked. She has been championing us since the beginning.”

Lovelight is also carried in stores as far as Tennessee, North Carlina, and California. And they offer workshops, private lessons, and private events in their space.

Talking to Mike and Olivia, their passion and energy for their work together is obvious and contagious. But not everyone could work with their spouse on their dream project. “When it’s good it’s the best; when it’s hard, it’s the hardest thing ever,” says Mike. When asked how they manage, they mention preventative therapy, learning quickly, and prioritizing their relationship over the business, always.

Olivia adds, “It’s really, really, hard, but it’s so much fun. For us, it works really well. We get to spend a lot of time together. We get to do cool things. That’s the dream.” To live your dream in Monmouth County: Who could ask for anything more?

Visit Lovelight Handmade at 57 Main St. Suite 3, Bradley Beach. Open Thursdays through Sundays. Shop online at www.lovelighthandmade.com.

Photography by Michelle Wolfe and courtesy of Lovelight Handmade