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Amelia’s Magazine | An Interview with Paul Tomlinson of Cocoa Hernando Chocolates

cocoahernando-chocolate case
I first tasted Cocoa Hernando chocolates when I visited the Startup Showcase at Somerset House a few months back: so when founder Paul Tomlinson offered to send me some samples of his latest ‘collection’ I of course jumped at the chance to sample some of this fabulous artisanal chocolate. The deliciously smooth flavours of Cocoa Hernando are also delightfully unusual – try Masala Chai or Chipotle Chilli – and beautifully packaged to boot. I caught up with Paul to find out a bit more about the launch of his new range.

Cocoa Hernando India
What is the ethos behind Cocoa Hernando chocolates, and what is different about your brand?
Cocoa Hernando discover the finest chocolate and most exciting flavours from around the world. It is these unusual flavours complemented by the beautiful travel inspired packaging which makes us different.

A bit like a fashion label you have curated collections of flavours: what prompted this approach to chocolate making?
Indeed. I think it’s a lovely and refined way to present the chocolate bars. I’m an avid collector of records and books which also inspired this approach. Penguin paperbacks and Factory Records especially spring to mind…..

Cocoa Hernando Himalaya
You have some very distinct flavours in your range – how do you establish what works well together?
I’ve always been obsessed with food, so it’s an absolute pleasure to experiment with different flavours. Like any creative process, you keep researching and experimenting until you come up with something that blows your mind!

It was your wonderful packaging and display that caught my eye at the start up showcase: how did you come up with these designs and who created them?
Thank you. I’m also obsessed with design, especially the styles which typified the golden age of travel. We did all the graphic design of the packaging ourselves and then commissioned an illustrator to add the magic.

Cocoa Hernando Mexico
What was the process of producing the labels?
Since discovery is a key theme of the brand, we first looked for wonderful and unusual locations from the countries of the chocolate bars. We then created extremely detailed briefs and handed them to our talented illustrator, Rui Ricardo.

I was unfortunately unable to join you for the launch of the Herbs and Spice collection: what did I miss?
You missed lots of delicious chocolate and a wonderful party in the classy surroundings of Monmouth Street. It was great to finally celebrate our achievements so far!

Cocoa Hernando Morocco
Where can fans buy bars of Cocoa Hernando chocolate?
We sell online and hope to be in certain department stores before the end of Summer. Smaller shops are starting to pick up on us now too. We also like to pop-up with our suitcases around London whenever we can, so keep an eye out.

Do you have any new launch plans you can share with us?
We’re currently working on the next collection, which I’m very excited about and we’re also planning an exciting and extended pop-up event for the end of the year. Exciting times!

You can keep in touch with Cocoa Hernando and find out about upcoming events by following them on twitter and facebook. I can’t wait to try their next collection…

Written by Amelia Gregory on Tuesday July 23rd, 2013 1:19 pm

Categories ,Chipotle Chilli, ,chocolate, ,Cocoa Hernando, ,Factory Records, ,Herbs and Spice collection, ,Masala Chai, ,Monmouth Street, ,Paul Tomlinson, ,Penguin, ,Rui Ricardo, ,Somerset House, ,Startup Showcase

Amelia’s Magazine | An Interview with Paul Tomlinson of Cocoa Hernando Chocolates

You can keep in touch with Cocoa Hernando and find out about upcoming events by following them on twitter and facebook. I can’t wait to try their next collection…

Written by Amelia Gregory on Tuesday July 23rd, 2013 1:19 pm

Amelia’s Magazine | Escape to Christmas Past by Good Wives and Warriors: Colouring Book Review and Artist Interview

Escape to Christmas Past by Lynn Stevens
Escape to Christmas Past coloured by Lynn Stevens.

Becky Bolton and Louise Chappell are Good Wives and Warriors, an artistic duo that specialise in extraordinarily intricate drawings that have been applied to all sorts of surfaces, from walls to bottles to books to magazines (including issue 9 of Amelia’s Magazine). They met at Glasgow School of Art and with a base in London now work all over the world. I was super thrilled to hear about their new colouring books for Puffin, themed around some well known stories. Escape to Wonderland is inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and Escape to Christmas Past is inspired by A Christmas Carol. Their Christmas edition has only just been released and would be a marvellous book to colour if you want to get in the festive mood. I caught up with Good Wives and Warriors…

Escape to Wonderland by Ronit Roccas

Escape to Wonderland opening page
Good Wives and Warriors
Congratulations on your colouring books! How did they get commissioned?
Firstly, thank you very much Amelia. It has been quite a busy few months working on the two Penguin books and a third colouring in book for the German market yet to be published. We feel like drawing machines! The Penguin books were commissioned through our London Illustration Agent – Central Illustration Agency. Our work had been followed by the partner of one of the Art Directors at Penguin who had then approached CIA. The pitch was between ourselves and one other illustrator. We were very happy to be the chosen for the job!

Escape to Wonderland teapots
Escape to Wonderland gems
Escape to Wonderland lizards
What has been the best bit about creating these books?
I think we both love producing drawings and creating large amounts of work. Maybe for us that is more important than the final outcome (although we are very proud to have the completed books in our hands!) So to have a wall covered with around 200 drawings was a very satisfying experience for us. It was also fun to read through the books, especially Alice in Wonderland, and plan out the illustrations.

Escape to Wonderland by Paula Bowerman 2

Escape to Wonderland coloured by Paula Bowerman.

How have you juggled their creation around your other jobs, and how long did they take to make?
We both work three days at our other jobs and three days in the studio. At times it can be a bit of a juggle although in the last year we have been a lot more strict about not working nights or Sundays. We are lucky working together because we can spur each other on and usually work faster or more efficiently as a result. It is hard to say exactly how long the books took as we were working on other commissions at the same time. For Alice we also had the help of a lovely assistant Marcella Wylie, (who is a talent illustrator based in Scotland) to help clean up the drawings.

Escape to Wonderland by Stephanie Cox

Escape to Wonderland garden of hearts
Escape to Wonderland dragon
Escape to Wonderland cheshire cat
Who is your favourite character in Escape to Wonderland and why?
I love the version of the Cheshire Cat that Becky drew – inspired by the paintings of Louis Wain, an early 20th Century artist whose strange and beautiful cat paintings are definitely worth checking out!

Escape to Christmas Past cover
Escape to Christmas Past cityscape
Escape to Christmas Past_kittens
What can people expect in your new christmas themed book?
Escape to Christmas Past is a very traditional illustrated journey through Dickensian London and all the rich, decorative imagery we associate with a nostalgic Christmas. The tale itself is quite dark in places and we hoped to lighten the story a little by adding some of our own creatures and funny little additions.

Escape to Christmas Past decs
Escape to Christmas Past swans
Do either of you colour in, and if so what kind of stuff and what is your top tip for creating an attractive bit of artwork?
Creating these books has been our first step into the world of colouring in. That said, we have in the past created hand coloured versions of our screen prints. One year we also hand coloured in every individual (detailed tiny drawing!) of our christmas card send out. It was a labour of love but also very mediative and enjoyable. When we recently coloured in pages from our recent books to experiment, we have really enjoyed it. Applying gradient colour over large areas of patterned detail is definitely satisfying. I guess a tip could be using pantone pens as they layer very nicely though the nibs are thick and only really useful for the larger sections of colour.

Escape to Christmas Past tree
Escape to Christmas Past table
Escape to Christmas Past stars
Who do you think your books will appeal to this Christmas?
The colouring in book based on a Christmas Carol is definitely stocking filler material and would appeal to a wide age group. The Alice in Wonderland book is maybe a slightly more select market but there are so many colouring in books on the market now, I don’t know how people will decide what to buy!

Escape to Christmas Past snowglobe
Escape to Christmas Past ship_lighthouse
Louise, you worked on Amelia’s Magazine many years ago when it was in print, what is your fondest memory of that time?
Gosh, that was such a long time ago now but the issue is still proudly in the studio library! That was my first experience of living in London after graduating from art school in Glasgow and I loved it! I am still pretty much in love with London, it is hard to imagine living anywhere else. I have so many memories from that time but what I guess it was the friendships built with the Team (Issue 9ers!) – all the tea, trips to the bagel shop on Brick Lane and the epic lunch spreads (thanks Amelia!) Working on the magazine was a real learning curve and a massively beneficial experience.

Escape to Wonderland by Lynn Stevens

Escape to Christmas Past 2 coloured by Lynn Stevens
Escape to Christmas Past coloured by Lynn Stevens

Find both these colouring books by Good Wives and Warriors online at Amazon and at major retailers. Many thanks to Lynn Stevens and Paula Bowerman from the Colouring Circle Facebook group.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Saturday November 14th, 2015 2:15 pm

Categories ,Adult Colouring Book, ,Alice in Wonderland, ,Amelia’s Magazine, ,Becky Bolton, ,Brick Lane, ,Central Illustration Agency, ,Cheshire Cat, ,Christmas, ,Christmas Carol, ,Coloring Book, ,Colouring Book, ,Colouring Book For Adults, ,Colouring Circle, ,Escape to Christmas Past, ,Escape to Wonderland, ,glasgow, ,Glasgow School of Art, ,Good Wives and Warriors, ,interview, ,london, ,Louis Wain, ,Louise Chappell, ,Lynn Stevens, ,Marcella Wylie, ,Paula Bowerman, ,Penguin, ,Puffin, ,review, ,Ronit Roccas, ,Stephanie Cox

Amelia’s Magazine | Best of D&AD New Blood Illustration & Graphic Design Graduates 2012: part three

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Alex Young
Following on from my second review of New Blood comes my final write up. Lots of students illustrated the cover for Grimm’s Fairy Tales – at University of Central Lancashire the rough energy of this woodcut by Alex Young stood out.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Nicola Jones
At Norwich University College of the Arts Nicola Jones screenprinted the open market.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Nicola Jones

Stacey Knights worked in simple colourways to create illustrations of the market and for a brief to design for the cover of Little White Lies (another popular project which featured throughout the exhibition).

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Gina Pape

Gina Pape‘s Sympathetic Magic was inspired by the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Sophie Perryman

Sophie Perryman created a collaged monster that was the antithesis of the Kawaii (cute) phenomenon.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Jack Cullis
At the University of West England Jack Cullis created a series of stunning illustrations for classic Penguin book covers.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Sami Al-Adawy
Sami Al-Adawy‘s grid town appealed to my love of repetition in design.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Jamie Jones
This harbour by Jamie Jones would look great in a kid’s book.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Rebecca Clemson

The Great Barrier Reef in paper quilling by Rebecca Clemson at Staffordshire University was a huge hit with visitors – she’s also a potter who has secured funding to set up her own business in the potteries. I wish she had a website.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Melanie Milne
Melanie Milne had also dabbled in ceramics and had created this wonderful typographic textile design as an ode to the humble sprout.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Elora Taylor

At Plymouth University I loved beautiful character illustration of jazz monkeys by Elora Taylor.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Jenny Cox
At University of Cumbria Jenny Cox illustrated The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Shorty Lee

Cute illustrations for a touchy feely children’s book called The Magic Sheep by Shorty Lee at Edinburgh College of Art.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Nikki Wei Guo

Mother Worms by Nikki Wei Guo; illustrations to accompany self penned folk stories about desire for life and fear of death.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Cara Holsgrove
Creepy but beautifully realised imagery by Cara Holsgrove is part of a handmade book of poems about distorted reality.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Sophie Hargrave
Sophie Hargrave‘s recycle week and gender equality posters at Loughborough University.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Camilla Perkins
I missed this year’s University of Westminster illustration exhibition at the Ambika P3 Gallery so Alia Gargum covered it. Here’s what I liked at New Blood: Above, super colourful portraits of David Bellamy and Jaques Costeau framed in wreaths for plate designs by Camilla Perkins.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Angelina Ioannides-Beer
Like Alia I picked up on the geometric work of Angelina Ioannides-Beer. And what a marvellous name!

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Emma Black
Intrigued by overlaid monoprint work by Emma Black.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Holly Monger
Narrative scenes by Holly Monger.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Olivia Henry
Cute character work by Olivia Henry.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Nina Jorgensen
Beautiful abstract patterns from Nina Jorgensen

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Josie Shenoy
Intricate patterned work by Josie Shenoy.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Rikki Hewitt
Collaged work by Rikki Hewitt.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Paul Hickey
Paul Hickey‘s work combining photographic imagery and a painterly blocks of colour.

It’s hard to pick out the finest graduates from such a busy exhibition which is why I always prefer to see individual college’s shows. I will always be most attracted to narrative illustration and typography over digital or advertising led work, and in those areas these three blogs should give a taster of the huge amount of creative talent heading out into the marketplace this summer. If you like what you see why not give them a job? I wish them all the best: whilst design becomes ever more important in our consumer led world it’s undeniably tough out there and only the very talented, motivated and lucky will end up doing exactly what they want to do.

Read my first and second reviews of New Blood 2012 here and here.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday July 18th, 2012 1:44 pm

Categories ,2012, ,Alex Young, ,AMBIKA P3 gallery, ,Angela Carter, ,Angelina Ioannides-Beer, ,Camilla Perkins, ,Cara Holsgrove, ,D&AD, ,David Bellamy, ,Edinburgh College of Art, ,Elora Taylor, ,Emma Black, ,Georgina Pape, ,Gina Pape, ,graduate, ,Graphic Design, ,Great Barrier Reef, ,Grimm’s Fairy Tales, ,illustration, ,Jack Cullis, ,Jamie Jones, ,Jaques Costeau, ,Jenny Cox, ,Josie Shenoy, ,Kawaii, ,Little White Lies, ,Loughborough University, ,Melanie Milne, ,Mother Worms, ,New Blood, ,Nicola Jones, ,Nikki Wei Guo, ,Nina Jorgensen, ,Norwich University College of the Arts, ,Olivia Henry, ,Paul Hickey, ,Penguin, ,Pitt Rivers Museum, ,Plymouth University, ,Rebecca Clemson, ,review, ,Rikki Hewitt, ,Sami Al-Adawy, ,Shorty Lee, ,Sophie Hargrave, ,Sophie Perryman, ,Stacey Knights, ,Staffordshire University, ,Sympathetic Magic, ,The Bloody Chamber, ,The Magic Sheep, ,University of Central Lancashire, ,University of Cumbria, ,University of West England, ,University of Westminster

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Ignacia Ruiz: Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion featured artist.

Ignacia Ruiz was born near the Andes but has chosen London as her home. Since graduation from her degree she’s had a packed schedule, featuring in numerous exhibitions but happily finding time to produce some artwork for Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion too.

ignacia Ruiz Portrait
What has prompted your lifelong obsession with greenhouses and plants in general?
I think it started with the very first place I lived in. There was a small greenhouse in the centre of the house and I can remember being about 4 years old and going in to water plants with my mum. It always seemed like the most magical place! I think that has remained my impression ever since. Being from the city and surrounded mostly by buildings has made me see plants and greenery as a precious thing.

Ignacia Ruiz

You love to sketch on location – how did you set about capturing the hothouse atmosphere of the greenhouse?
For me it was getting the mix of the delicate architecture of the steel frame and glass against the organic structural shapes of the plants themselves. The tropical heat of the greenhouse hopefully comes across on the vivid colours of the plants in the drawings!

Ignacia Ruiz
What was the best bit about growing up in Santiago de Chile?
Weirdly enough I think it was probably the topography of it. You can drive from the city to the seaside in an hour to have a swim and later drive up the snowy mountains all in the same day. The variety of landscapes is lovely. My favourite thing in Santiago is seeing the Andes mountains at sunset. The snow turns red and orange and you can see the beauty of them in stark contrast with the glass and steel of the buildings.

Ignacia Ruiz
Why did you pick London for your study?
Initially I was only coming to London for maybe a year, but a lot happened in that time and I felt like it was the right place for me. I then applied to do the Graphic Design and Illustration BA at Central Saint Martins and got offered a place. That’s when I decided I wanted to stay here and try to develop my career. It’s been going well ever since!

Ignacia Ruiz
How do you translate your location sketches into finished works of art and what is the process?
My sketches are usually very fast and loose, so I like to have finished work that retains some of that quality. I have found that with print methods like linocut and woodcut I can emulate the drawing pen with the chisel. I guess it’s the same idea, just a different tool. I love playing with negative space and the bold flat colour you get with relief printing. I also like the imperfections of the print that relate to the initial rough sketch. I’m not a perfectionist printmaker at all!

Ignacia Ruiz
I believe you’ve just completed a residency in Italy – can you tell us more about this?
Yes, I was very lucky to have been asked by the print studio Opificio della Rosa to come and work in an artist book. I decided to make a reportage project of the area the studio is located in, the Conca Valley. I travelled around with my sketchbook documenting the people and places I encountered. Later I returned to the studio to turn the drawings into woodcuts. It is an ongoing project that will be finished and published in 2016.

Ignacia Ruiz
How did you get the commission to illustrate a Penguin book and what was the process of producing your final artwork?
One of Penguin‘s art editors came to our second year illustration exhibition and liked some of the work I was exhibiting. We kept in touch until finally she said she had a project that would suit my work. It was a book about the planning and logistics of the Crusades. I was so excited, especially since all the research consisted in looking at beautiful period illuminations and films depicting the Crusades. The artwork went through several roughs before it was approved by Penguin and was finally rendered in a woodcut style with thick black outline and very little colour.

Ignacia Ruiz
Can you tell us more about the recent exhibitions you have taken part in?
There has been a few this year apart from my degree show. I had a piece in the AOI’s Places and Spaces exhibition at the London Transport Museum, I did a cover for Alice in Wonderland which was featured at the YCN Student Awards at the Barbican Centre, I had a project about depicting boxers training in a gym in Islington featured in the Reportager Award at the UWE in Bristol and my City linocuts series appeared at the Cheltenham Illustration Awards. It’s been a busy year!

Ignacia Ruiz
What next, will you stay in London and if so why?
I have some commissions and teaching jobs on at the moment so London feels like the right place to be. We shall see what the future brings!

You will be able to own your very own copy of Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion featuring the work of Ignacia and many others… just make sure you grab your book once my Kickstarter campaign launches in a few weeks time.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday October 1st, 2015 8:55 am

Categories ,#ameliasccc, ,Adult Coloring Book, ,Adult Colouring Book, ,Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion, ,AOI, ,Central Saint Martins, ,Cheltenham Illustration Awards, ,Coloring, ,Colouring, ,Conca Valley, ,Crusades, ,Ignacia Ruiz, ,illustation, ,Kickstarter, ,linocut, ,London Transport Museum, ,Opificio della Rosa, ,Penguin, ,Places and Spaces, ,Reportager Award, ,Santiago de Chile, ,woodcut, ,YCN Student Awards

Amelia’s Magazine | An Interview with Paul Tomlinson of Cocoa Hernando Chocolates

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