Askinosie Chocolate

I've always had a strong affinity with chocolate - from the dark stuff itself to the packaging. (I was part of the product development team at Astor Chocolate for several years and helped create chocolate products as well as branding and packaging.) Chocolate packaging can be very interesting and allows for a lot of creativity. I think it's probably the most adaptable product to create a brand identity for among any other product on earth. Yeah, chocolate rules.

The point of this post is to share with you a great chocolate discovery - Askinosie Chocolate. The name might be unusual, but it's the last name of the company's founder - Shawn Askinosie. Shawn is a criminal-defense-lawyer-turned-chocolatier that is doing something very impressive with his company. Small farmers are part of a profit-share system that's completely open book. Talk about treating the farmer as equal - that's truly fair trade in my book. Watch the opening video - it's worth it.

As you can see, besides being a virtuous chocolate maker, their packaging is equally impressive. A rugged military ration feel that brings to mind WWII ephemera and old typewritten forms, permeates Askinosie's collection.

(Who designed the packaging? My research turned up short. Any tips would be great - I'd love to give credit where it's due.)

(Speaking of credit, thanks to Coolhunting for bringing this chocolatier to my attention - good one!)

 

Continue reading for more excellent images of their packaging...

The bars feature a wonderful waxy paper that becomes naturally marred like a rugged leather saddle. This is by far my favorite part of the collection.

The bars are only rivaled by the sipping chocolate packaging - how they got the label to look distressed that way is beyond me - the effect is nothing short of excellent.