I have always been a visual artist. I grew up going to a Waldorf
School where everything we learned was arts-infused. High school was an
immersion into a visual arts magnet program and from there I went to Ringling College of Art and Design to study Graphic Design. I started my own business after graduation, JMF Designs, LLC, where I discovered my love of branding and helping small businesses visually
describe their products and concepts.
One of my projects at Ringling involved designing a food product line. I created candy bar wrappers and called them Coping Candy to address those pesky everyday issues most of us face. The wrappers are a little on the sarcastic side and a tad irreverent and people seem to be loving them. The bars I have so far are: Broke, Hangover, Rebound, Sorry, Screwed, Smitten and Single Girl.
A few months ago I met a local chocolatier, Sarah Dwyer of Chouquette, and she has taken me
under her wing. She’s
teaching me how to temper and pour chocolate and now I’m pouring about 200 bars a week. Sarah uses fair trade chocolate and it is delicious. I foil-wrap each bar by hand and then add the wrappers. It
is truly a labor of love!
The good news is I have finally launched Coping Candy and am selling at a local
boutique, The
Blue House, in Bethesda, Maryland. I’m thrilled and have so many more ideas for more themed bars. I also have small
bite-size pieces that are called Coping Candy Shots! I’m thinking, a Shot of espresso-filled
chocolate would go nicely with the Hangover bar or a rum-filled Shot with
Single Girl would make "those lonely weekend nights" less so.
If you’re in
the Washington, DC area please come to The Blue House on February 7th
between 1 – 3 pm. I will be there with my chocolates and would love to meet
you! If you’re not in the
area, you can order anytime off of my (soon-to-be-completed) website, below. I am hoping to have my site up and running by the end of this week.
It is exhilarating and terrifying to be starting this candy
business but I’m running with it with everything I’ve got. Creating chocolate bars that make people smile and sometimes even burst
out laughing keeps me pouring more. I could not ask
for anything better!
To see my portfolio of graphic design work, please go to:
Coping Candy (coming soon)
jenna@jmfdesignsllc.com
This is Week 3 of 52 Artists in 52 Weeks telling a story about their work. Thanks for reading and sharing Jenna's post today.
jenna@jmfdesignsllc.com
This is Week 3 of 52 Artists in 52 Weeks telling a story about their work. Thanks for reading and sharing Jenna's post today.
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