the CHOCOLATE FACTORY COLLECTION

Commercial Interiors ; Bespoke surface pattern design and textile art for a new innovation space in the product design and technology centre.

Client:Nestle, York

Brief : Transport visitors to the origin of the Nestle cocoa bean.

The artwork tells the story of cacao from plant, pod and bean. Three hand embroidered textile canvases feature patterns and weavings techniques of West Africa, the source of the Nestle cocoa bean. Coloured thread referencing Kente cloth’s originating in Ghana. In ‘Kente’, each pattern and colour carries it’s own meaning; the cloth tells a story through the geometric formations of the weave and selection of the colours. Green represents growth, yellow expresses wealth and is symbolic of the African sun, darker rich tones represent Mother Earth and black represents strength. The ‘Emaa Da’ Kente cloth meaning “something that has not happened before'“ celebrates innovation, uniqueness and creativity. Capturing this sentiment original jute sacks used to transport the raw cacao bean to the factory on York, have been worked into the canvas and repurposed into the leaves and cocoa pods positioned across the three artworks. These denote the cocoa plantations and the work of the farmers and the woven quality of traditional ‘Raffia’ textile; specific to the Ivory Coast . The rich chocolate and ochre tones provide depth to the colour scheme planned for the interior features of the space. The fabric used for office ‘pod’ privacy curtain and soft furnishings complements the installation of three hand painted murals. This project enabled me to combine all elements of my practice to create a collection that celebrates the origin of chocolate.

Reference : https://kentecloth.com/blog/kente-cloth-patterns-andmeanings/

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