Design and Chocolate are truly two of our favorite things, and when you blend the two together for the perfect chocolate gift, we’re pretty much speechless. We decided that we’d scour the chocolate world for the most beautiful chocolate gift packages in existence, coming from some of the world’s most talented designers and chocolatiers. From Indonesia to the Ivory Coast, Bolivia to Brazil, here are 20 of the most beautiful chocolate packaging designs from around the world. (this feature sponsored by the chocolate of the month club)
100% Chocolate Cafe
View in gallery Kyobashi, Japan is home to 100% Chocolate Cafe, a cafe whose product focus is not on coffee beans or tea leaves, but the finest cocoa from around the world. They serve up 56 different flavors of chocolate from across the globe, from Madagascar to Mexico, Costa Rica to Cote D’Ivoire. Their packaging is colorful, informative and simple– displaying a numeric value for each chocolate, the location of its birth and basic details about its flavor. Thanks to 100% Chocolate Cafe, Kyobashi is now very much on our list of locales to visit during our next trip to Japan. We don’t expect to return without a serious case of chocolate withdrawal… 100% Chocolate Cafe Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery
Selfridge’s Credit Crunch Chocolate
View in gallery The Selfridges department store was looking for something special to offer its customers during National Chocolate Week of 2008… [Wait just a minute here, there’s a national chocolate week?] Back to reality– Selfridge’s Credit Crunch Chocolate is a way of thanking their customers who are still spending during this economic downturn, and we can’t think of a better way to give thanks. This simple cellophane bag with a brown bowtie and Helvetica-stamped label is easily one of the coolest, most playful designs we’ve seen to adorn our favorite treat.
Kanella Gift Chocolate Calendars
View in gallery Kanella is a Greek product design firm that extended a special gift to their clients in 2009, a collection of 12 Chocolate Gift Calendars. These special chocolate gifts were comprised of 12 bars, one per month, that included a monthly calendar with a design for each month of the year. A rose for February, flowers for April, grapes for September and a snowman for December, each digital illustration matched the month in which these bars were intended to be consumed. Nice though, Kanella– we wish we were one of your clients that year! Kanella Gift Chocolate Calendars Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery
Co Couture Chocolate
View in gallery Simple, sexy, stunning– the handiwork of Sort Design. The high-end chocolatier Co Couture Chocolate desired something bold, something different for their packaging. Sort Design developed this simple, black box with the branded Co Couture logo– with a subtle touch of color within. Open pandora’s chocolate box, and you’re presented with four chocolate bars designated by color. The series includes a range of flavored chocolate that is as strong and serious on your tongue as the design is to your eyes. Bon apetit, Co Couture! Co Couture Chocolate Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery
Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Chocolate
View in gallery It’s clear that Victorinox has a sense of humor… as well as a sweet tooth. The Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Chocolate is a celebration of the brand’s bold red iconography born again in chocolate. Fans of the do-it-all multi-tool knives that love chocolate will certainly enjoy these individually-wrapped chocolates in a Swiss Army fashion. These may not be official Victorinox Swiss Army Knives (it would appear that they don’t come with a toothpick, USB hard drive or his/her vibrator), but they damn sure are as sweet as chocolate pie.
Nestle Black Magic Chocolate Bars
View in gallery Nestle, the 800-pound gorilla on this list, brings their own brand of magic with the Nestle Black Magic Chocolate Bars. Designed by Elmwood, the Black Magic chocolates are wrapped in a colorful tuxedo spanning the spectrum in gold, red and purple. Nestle is hoping to drop their own weight on the gourmet chocolate market with Black Magic, and if the chocolate is as delectable as the design, we’re betting that they’re on the path to more chocolately riches. Nestle Black Magic Chocolate Bars Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery
Recession Bites Chocolate Truffles
View in gallery For most of us, this economic downturn has been pretty hard to swallow. The delicious designers at FreshThrills, however, have a bullish concept to take on this ugly bear market. The Recession Bites Chocolate Truffles are a collection of tasty treats that come in a basic cardboard tube, containing the one thing that transcends the economic circle– chocolate, sweet chocolate. Recession Bites Chocolate Truffles Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery
Cocoa Absolute Chocolate
View in gallery Cocoa Absolute Chocolate takes packaging design back to basics– just an all-black label with a simple font and an informative ribbon. The Cocoa Absolute Chocolate design brings simple sophistication to luxury chocolates, showcasing smart San Francisco design sensibility in a progressive package. Beyond the lowercase white font on a black background, details about the chocolate contained within are printed in old-school typeface on an off-white wrapped ribbon. We’re willing to wager that the chocolate within is as carefully developed as this pretty package itself.
Original Beans Chocolate
View in gallery Original Beans Chocolate tapped Department of Graphic Sciences to develop a package that was as refined and environmentally-conscious as the chocolate brand itself. Beyond the rich, floral design and raised globe icon, the packaging for Original Beans Chocolate was produced in an entirely wind-powered factory. What’s more, Original Beans Chocolate plants a tree for every box of chocolate they sell. The design preaches a refined sense of environmentalism, and the company backs it up with sustainable business practices. Win/win in our book. Original Beans Chocolate Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery
Fat Pig Chocolate
View in gallery How very subtle of you, Fat Pig Chocolate. We don’t know if we’ve ever seen packaging be so delightfully insulting. These bright pink squares of chocolate make fun of you while you eat them, shouting “oink!” with every bite. The front side shows a cartoon pig snout, while the rear explains that you’d better shove these in your gullet quick– before another fat pig walks by and asks you for a piece. Hey, I suppose we can’t argue with that… Fat Pig Chocolate Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery
Askinosie Chocolate Gift Packages
View in gallery After a 20-year career as a criminal defense attorney, Shawn Askinosie opted for a career change– quickly becoming known as an award-winning chocolatier. Askinosie has built his brand with a wise focus on packaging, creating a series of lovely Askinosie Chocolate Gift Packages. One in particular, the “Chalk-Late Box”, features a slate chalkboard on top where a gift giver can write a message to the recipient. The package contains bars of Askinosie Chocolate wrapped in simple brown paper with old-style ink imagery. All around, Askinosie’s Chocolate packaging makes quite an impression on his customers, one that helps get ’em hooked on his chocolatey goods. Askinosie Chocolate Gift Packages Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery
Chocolate Pie Chart
View in gallery Design duo Mary & Matt are clearly having too much fun with data visualization. The Chocolate Pie Chart provides a visual breakdown of the math behind this container’s contents. Within, you’ll find 70% dark, 20% milk and 10% white chocolate, broken down accordingly in chart form. Math has never been quite so tasty.
Chocarome Chocolate
View in gallery While the packaging for Chocarome Chocolate is bright, vibrant and colorful– so is the chocolate it contains. This fine Austrian chocolate features a rainbow color pattern on its box top that is continued on the candy within. Each of the Chocarome chocolates is covered with a single color from yellow to orange, purple to pink. This rainbow of chocolate was designed by Vienna-based Wortwerk, whose delectable designs we’d love to try for ourselves. Chocarome Chocolate Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery
Divine Chocolate
View in gallery While Divine Chocolate‘s packaging may not have a strong story like others on this list, it is a clear favorite of ours. The Divine Chocolate labeling is adorned with playful patterns and the delightful Divine logo, suggesting that this chocolate is for the rich-at-heart and the playful-in-spirit. The chocolate comes from Ghana, a nation known for producing excellent chocolate, where Divine Chocolate practices fair trade and engages in developing the community of farmers with which it works.
Bloomsberry Medical Chocolate
View in gallery Take two of these and call me in the morning! The Bloomsberry Medical Chocolates are packaging parodies on popular medical products from Birth Control to Botox. Our favorite from these medically-inspired chocolate packages is Girth Control Chocolate, featuring directions and warning labels shown front-and-center. BOCHOX is pretty damn funny as well. Our only concern about these chocolates is the potential for a medicine-y flavor… However, we’re pretty sure the medical gag with this chocolate is only skin deep.
Gu Chocolate Truffles
View in gallery While the word “goo” may not have the most attractive connotations, when used to describe chocolate it takes on a delectable air. In this case, “Gu” is the name of a chocolate brand oft-enjoyed by our good friends on the other side of the Atlantic pond. The Gu Chocolate Trifles are shown here in a sleek, sexy black package where the product itself provides the color. The result suggests luxury, a high end chocolate treat that should be enjoyed seriously.
No9 Chocolate
View in gallery The packaging for No9 Chocolate (les noix chocolatees) needs a close look if you are truly to understand it. It is comprised of a cardboard box with nine foil circles arranged on the top. Puncture one of the foils to expose a fine piece of chocolate shaped like a walnut– then take a bite and enjoy. When you’re done with the package, it is fully recyclable, leaving little to no waste from this chocolate experience. Nicely done, No9 Chocolate! No9 Chocolate Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery
True Rum Chocolates
View in gallery True Rum suggests that the pairing of chocolate and rum is “a match made in heaven”. To show just how enjoyable this experience can be, True Rum has released their own line of True Rum Chocolates to be enjoyed with a glass of rum. We’re lovers of rum here at TheCoolist, and we obviously love chocolate– so we’d love to experience what True Rum has created. The packaging of True Rum Chocolate is what earned it a spot on this list, as the cloth bag of finely-crafted chocolate coins looks as lovely as they likely are tasty. It’s like a bag of gold– edible gold, that is. True Rum Chocolates Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery
Chocolat Factory Tubes
View in gallery Although someone apparently nibbled the “e” off the end of their brand name, it’s apparent that Chocolate Factory is serious about chocolate. The Chocolat Factory Tubes are an unique way of delivering their product to the “end user”, in this case arriving in a series of four in a handled cardboard box. While this may not be the most ground-breaking design, we love it for its simplicity and efficacy– chocolate in a tube? What will they think of next!?
Mast Brothers Chocolate
View in gallery The Mast Brothers Chocolate packaging may be last on our list, but it is certainly not the least. Mast Brothers has rolled out this line of funky, wallpaper-style patterns to adorn their latest chocolate bars, and we love the aesthetic. There’s something about our grandparents’ old place that was so early-60s it hurt for so many decades, but now we can’t get enough of it. Those rich, flowery stylings and fleur-de-lis funk are all the rage now, and Mast Brothers were wise to employ them. We’ll take 100 bars of the chocolate on the right above– then we’ll wallpaper our bathroom with the packaging. Mast Brothers Chocolate Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery – – – – – – – – – – So what do you think? What is your favorite chocolate packaging from above? Let us know in the comments below. If you have ever purchased any chocolate that you thought was pretty special, tell us about it in the comments as well. In the mean time, check out these other features from TheCoolist that we think you might find to be pretty special.
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Special thanks to our two favorite packaging blogs that you absolutely must check out, subscribe to and spend every day reading: TheDieline and LovelyPackage. Many of their finds showed up on this list above, so kudos to their vast archive of great work. Be sure to pay them a long visit! Also, if you love chocolate as much as we do, we suggest you pay a visit to this article’s sponsor, the Chocolate of the Month Club. Yeah, it’s pretty much the best subscription club in American history. TheCoolist is sponsored by COMC so that a portion of the revenue from each package purchased by our readers is shared back with us. This allows us to purchase new and interesting chocolates from around the world to photograph, review and share with you. This will never color our editorial voice on any of the chocolates we review– whether it’s good or bad, we’ll certainly say so. Should you decide to try a Chocolate of the Month Club package, know that you’ll be buying us a bar as a result. With that, here’s to chocolate!
