Hasta La Ideas

A brief design history of a famed Icelandic candy’s mid-century packaging

Licorice fans probably already know about Icelandic brand Opal’s pastilles, but what of the eye-catching Op Art design of their packaging? The mesmerizing image dates back to the brand’s founding in 1946 when they commissioned painter Atli Mar to design the colorful logo that’s still in use today. While the brandname itself references the mineral, as Opal manager Áslaug Guðjónsdóttir explains, the vibrant packaging undoubtedly refers to Opal’s enthusiastic slogan “Bætir, hressir, kætir”—or “make things better, livelier and happier.”

The different colors of the coencentric circles, all variations of the original rainbow image, indicate the flavor of the treats inside. Options include mint licorice, salty licorice, sweet licorice and mixed fruits, all now produced by fellow Icelandic candy maker Nói Síríus since 1995.

Opal pastilles sell in stores around Iceland, Sweden and the U.S., as well as online.

Brooklyn-based chefs revive hard candy with secret ingredients and throwback packaging

Like millions of good ideas, Brooklyn Hard Candy was dreamed up over several drinks one night. But unlike most booze-fueled enterprises, this one has more than enough cred to back it up. The joint product of Le Cordon Bleu grads Danny Mowles (also the executive chef at NYC’s The Roger Smith Hotel) and Nathan Panum, the pair set out to create something distinctly Brooklyn and unmistakably “hard.”

“We saw everything moving towards local,” Mowles explained when I recently spent the afternoon with him in Brooklyn. “We knew we wanted to do something sweet, but everyone was doing chocolate. After that it was just finding the right type of sweet that we could make our own.”

Standout flavors include Wild Strawberry and Green Apple (I liked Tangerine and Blueberry too), but all seven have their own secret flavor ingredient, lending a subtly delicious aftertaste.

The cooking process follows standard candy-making procedure (cooking the sugar to a “hard crack” before adding citric acid and flavor), but the candy’s shape is the result of a custom-made cutting machine. Sourcing all of their Ingredients from the U.S., Mowles comments, “One of the things we’re most proud of is being a handcrafted American company.”

To attract customers, balancing the look of the packaging with their values was just as important to the candymakers as making tasty treats. “People keep asking if we can do organic candy, and that kind of takes the fun out of it—it’s candy—but what we have tried to do is keep the packaging as green as possible.” Made of recycled glass, cork and paper, the bottle is reminiscent of the type used in old-fashioned apothecaries.

With demand wildly exceeding expectation, the duo is trying to find free time between their busy day jobs to produce enough candy for both retailers and a growing online fan base. Launched December 2010, the company still operates out of multiple locations. “We get time from big kitchens at night, come in there in the off hours, prepare as many vats as we can and see how it goes.” An initial run in Brooklyn’s Bedford Cheese Shop helped the charming bottles sell across the area, and moves to larger markets are in the works, as well as a new product—look out for a lollipop line in time for summer.

In the meantime the candies start at $7 per bottle and are available at Greene Grape, Brooklyn Larder and Blue Apron Fine Foods, or through Brooklyn Hard Candy’s online store.

Packed in brightly colored geometric patterns, a regional treat pleases the palate and the eye

Taking an age-old confection into the 21st century, Divan‘s Turkish Delights are a classic recipe housed in elegantly modern packaging. Discovered on a recent trip to Istanbul, Divan has been handcrafting these delicious delicacies since 2006. The small sugary cubes are comprised of a base of chopped dates, pistachios and hazelnuts and come in 13 intriguing flavors—including Orange, Rose Aroma, Lemon, Pistachio, Mint, Chocolate, Mastica, Almond, Ginger, Hazelnut, Cinnamon, Coffee, Chocolate Coated Rose.

The gelatin gourmet confections make a great gift for anyone with a discerning sweet tooth. They can be found at Harrods, one of Divan‘s 14 patisseries or specialty shops around the world.

Chocolate designer Valerie Gordon weighs in on her new collaboration

Inspired by Byzantine tiles, Commune Design and Valerie Confections collaborated on a new collection of handmade chocolates. The cardboard box comes printed with an image of the tile design inside, which itself is comprised of 49 pieces of 72% bittersweet chocolate embellished with chocolate transfers made from colored, tempered cocoa butter.

We asked Valerie Gordon of Valerie Confections to share some of the collaborative process with Cool Hunting.

What aspects of the Commune aesthetic are similar to creating chocolates?

Commune’s approach to materials is like our approach to ingredients. Everything is built around honoring the natural aesthetic of the materials, or in our case the flavors of the ingredients. We each also have a very clean, uncluttered look to our work. There’s a great quote, alternately attributed to Mies van der Rohe and R.M. Schindler: “An interesting plainness is the most difficult and most precious thing to achieve.” I think, conciously or unconciously, that’s what we’re each trying to achieve.

How did this collaboration come about?

We did their holiday gifts one year, and have been friends for a while. Then Roman and I were chatting at a party, talking about our various collaborations and we both just realized that we should do something together.

Where did the idea of the tile come from?

It originally came from Steven, one of the principals at Commune. The tile is his design, and we all started talking about how to translate it into chocolate. Then I figured out the proportion of it, and that it should go in a box that looks like you’d get tile in it. Originally, we were going to seal the box with a really wide rubber band, but that evolved into the graphic sticker that they designed. Completely organic, and very easy.

How much does that fact that both companies are located in L.A. have an impact on the final design?

Hugely. Especially with something like this collaboration, where you have to see, and touch, and taste to really understand how it’s all coming together. And the city and your surroundings continually impact your aesthetic. The same forces and inspirations play on us, which would be different if we were both in New York or Chicago.

Commune Chocolates by Valerie Confection is available at the Valerie Confections shop near downtown Los Angeles and online at Valerie Confections and at the Commune Design Community Shop.

Made in California with a French twist, Le Caramel slow cooks their confections using a traditional recipe from the region of Isigny sur Mer. The Normandy town is as well known for its creamy dairy products as it is for its salted butter—the magic ingredient for complimenting the candy’s sugary base.

The husband-and-wife team handmake each batch of their caramel topping, cream, syrup and classic candies in their San Diego outpost, where they cook the caramel in copper kettles imported from France.

Le Caramel’s distinctly delicious goods sell online from their website, as well as from Amazon starting at $10.