Featured image for Behind The Label: Chocolate (Valentine's Day Edition)

Behind The Label: Chocolate (Valentine's Day Edition)

by Grant Van Sant on 02/12/2015 | 5 Minute Read

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In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I would like to direct your attention to the odd arms race happening in chocolate design. Chocolate and V-Day have always gone together. Whether you are giving a box or bar of chocolate to your lover or sitting alone eating them all by yourself- chocolate always seems like the right thing to do.

A revolution is happening in chocolate packaging. New brands are popping up left and right and their main method of differentiation is the design of their paper and foil wrapper. It is a surprising new trend, a surprisingly heated chocolatey arms race, a competition of one-upmanship to see who can design the most intriguing, engaging wrapper. And as things have heated up, we have raced to a place that oddly, isn’t even about chocolate anymore. These wrappers have become so aesthetic they are purchased as objects, as decorations or toppers to gifts.

For this Dieline Investigative report, I rolled up my sleeve and dove into the bubbling brimming bowl of chocolate. It was hard work, but I tasted a lot of chocolate on your behalf, to help you determine which is the right chocolate for every occasion, which is the right one to woo and which is the best if it’s just you.


Woodblock Chocolate 

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Woodblock Chocolate was started by the artistic husband and wife team, Jessica and Charley Wheelock.So if you are looking for a chocolate bar that can also provide a segue to popping the big question, Woodblock is probably your best option.

Lapp & Fao 

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Lapp & Fao chocolate bars were designed to take you to faraway places.  Each flavor has a name to stoke your imagination. Names like: Flamingo FIields and … Orange County. If you are spending this Valentine’s Day far from home (or wish you were) I recommend Lapp & Fao.

Unelefante

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Unelefante makes chocolate an art - or they make art, chocolate. With colorful bars like the Pollock bar, these sweets almost look too good to eat. If you have ever wanted to eat a Jackson Pollock painting, this is the chocolate for you.

Mokaya 

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Mokaya chocolate was branded by Diana Bharucha. The beautifully illustrated packaging shows scenes in which bad days are made better with a little chocolate. Mokaya is chocolate that is there for you always. And if you are planning on spending this Valentine’s Day alone, no chocolate will be as supportive and understanding as Mokaya.

Omnom

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Omnom Hand Crafted Chocolate is a bean to bar producer from Iceland. They source ingredients from all around the world, from the Amazon to African and Asia. Omnom is like a young love. The wrapper represents a chest of happiness. Each wrapper contains a series of illustrated characters to evoke the idea that an adventurous world awaits.

Mast Bros

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Mast Bros are the O.G.’s of the modern chocolate game. Two brothers from Williamsburg decide to make chocolate and wrap their bars in paper patterns inspired by vintage French wallpaper and set off a revolution in chocolate packaging. I’ve seen their bars everywhere but only recently actually opened one -and yes there actually is chocolate inside- and yes it’s actually really good. If you don’t want to mess around, go with Mast Bros.

There are lots of options. The chocolate packaging game is on point right now. So even though it might be hard to choose - the good thing is, thanks to these hard working designers, someone is bound to be impressed by your package this Valentine’s Day.


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By Grant Van SantEditor at Large, The DielineGrant is from Los Angeles but divides his time between New York, Nashville, Sydney and Florence. He studied film at NYU and writing at Vanderbilt.He has worked as a brand strategist on both the client and agency side. He has done design and video work for Nike, IBM, and has advised numerous startups. Grant has written for Huffington Post, Business of Fashion, and Cultural Capital. Stay up to date with Grant's latest projects at The Acme AgencyInstagram, and Twitter.