bloom's blog

Modular confectionery

Modular systems are smart. They allow you to tailor a product, change it around and swap in and out individual components according to your individual want.  It's customisation controlled by you. Think Lego, IKEA furniture or Dell computers.

Elsa Lambinet, applied the idea of modular experimentation to chocolate for her 2011 graduation design project. She collaborated with Swiss chocolatier Blondel to create this beautiful concept of customisable confectionery from interchangeable components.

Called “Sweet Play,” the project uses three types of chocolate and a range of toppings and fillings: dark chocolate has a platform for fruit, milk chocolate features indentations for nuts, and the white chocolate can hold liquids. All three have slots for receiving fillings such as wafers, nougat, and caramel. “Participants get to mix and match ingredients for hours and hours as they gorge themselves on custom confectionery goodness,” writes Lambinet. Its Wonka for grown-ups. See video here.

Last year, U.K. candy buisness, The Natural Confectionery Company, went modular with jelly sweets. In June 2011, they  launched Guzzle Puzzle sweets, a DIY mix and match flavour exploration in a unique jelly form. The candies come in five flavours - lime, cinnamon, banana, orange, and raspberry - but in certain combinations they create three additional flavours: cola, bubblegum, and pink lemonade.

Whilst aimed at young consumers, the brand language was deliberately not so childish as to alienate the older audience. We all have our own 'inner child' and confectionery is naturally the platform to expose this.

But who can forget Jelly Belly, the pioneers of confectionery flavour modulation? With a massively loyal following, Jelly Belly consistently challenges its consumers to come up with new 'recipes' from individual sweet combinations, and then showcases them on their website. With 50 official flavours in the range the possibilities are almost endless. 

Whilst 'modular' in confectionery is fitting for a category which is all about fun and exploration we believe that there is scope for modulation in food beyond confectionery. Watch this space...

Turning kitchenware into art

IKEA has once again teamed up with photographer Carl Kleiner to create a lovely new creative campaign for its kitchenware. Following up on his stunning IKEA cookbook Homemade is Best, Kleiner, in conjunction with stylist Evelina Bratell, has elevated simple kitchenware, into beautiful works of art.

It's inspired...

Food and dining trends for 2012

The New Year is a time to learn from the past and look forward to the future…so we bring you six trends in the world of food that we think will prosper over the course of this year.

 

Scandimania

A Scandinavian invasion - following the success of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Franchise and the TV series The Killing, high streets are expected to reflect a Scandinavian feel. It all began with flatpack furniture and meatballs, but our taste for Scandinavian style has evolved, and IKEA is soon to be a distant memory amidst all the new influences hitting our high streets.

The number of Scandinavian and Baltic products being sold in the West End has increased fourfold in the last year. John Lewis Oxford Street added 38 new Scandinavian brands to their food hall in January 2011 alone. 

Mustard and Dill Herring

Replenish, Reuse, Recycle

We love this ingenious example of sustainable packaging from the US. Launched early last year, the Replenish team tackled the issue of sustainability by focusing on the benefit for the consumer. Why should we pay extra for the plastic and water (with associated transport costs) in our household cleaners each time we run out?

What they designed is beautiful. A refillable, spray bottle that is easy and clean to use. The integrated dosage cup allows the consumer to measure out exact dilution quantities without coming into contact with the liquid and one small refill cartridge is enough to fill the spray 4 times over. Simply measure, refill (using your own tap) and reuse. 

You get the feeling that these guys are committed too. They are driven by the goal of eliminating 1 billion bottles from landfills, 1 billion miles of our roads and 1 billion pounds of chemicals out of the environment.  A sizable challenge indeed.

From -  Team Replenish on Vimeo.

Shouldn't the global brand owners such as Unilever, SC Johnson and Reckitt Benckiser be sitting up and taking note? Sure it's an investment and a change in business model but there is definitely an appetite for it amongst consumers. Refills are gaining traction already in other segments in the UK market. Just take a look in the laundry and coffee ailses...so why not household cleaners?