Fossa Chocolate x Ferne Atelier
Ferne Atelier is one of the leading clay jewellery makers in Singapore and what’s most amazing is that every single piece of their wearable beauties are hand designed and sculpted by their talented founder.
While our operations were affected over the past few months due to the pandemic, we’ve been working on a project with one of our favourite local artisans. Ferne Atelier is a leading clay jewellery maker in Singapore and what’s most amazing is that every single piece of their wearable beauties are hand designed and sculpted by their talented founder.
Since Ferne Atelier’s signature designs very much revolve around nature and its intricacy, we were really excited to team up for a series of earrings inspired by various parts of the cacao plant.
It started with this:
And soon it became this:
Design 1, Textured Leaves
The top piece resembles the texture of cacao leaves while the bottom piece is an assembly of cacao pods, leaves and flower.
Design 2, Seeds & Husk
Inspired by freshly opened cacao pods, the top piece resembles an cacao pod with its juicy pulp and seeds exposed. The bottom attached piece has cacao husk incorporated.
Design 3, Studs
A smaller pair of studs for everyday wear. Ideal for a more casual and minimalist look.
In addition to the visuals, we really hoped to incorporate some elements of real cacao into these pieces so we decided to work some dried, roasted cacao husks into the clay. Kudos to Ferne Atelier who managed to work them out so beautifully! ♥
They even took the effort to design the earring holders! It’s all in the details.
These limited edition earrings are truly special pieces — every pair is skillfully sculpted by hand and the beautiful workmanship shows. They are now available within a bundle in on the web store. Check them out before they’re gone!
A collaboration with Hong Kong specialty coffee roastery Urban Coffee Roasters
Hong Kong has always been nostalgic to me. Perhaps it's due to the countless HK dramas I grew up watching; maybe it's from the memories of revisiting my parents' honeymoon spots on family trips when I was a child; or it could just be my overwhelming love for dimsum and milk tea that created this special bond. Travelling to Hong Kong always felt like going home away from home - in so many ways the city was same same but different from Singapore.
With Hong Kong being a place that’s close to my heart, you can imagine how thrilled I was when we managed to land a trip there to expand our footprint! Everything happened pretty quickly, the trip was decided in April and we were to fly by early June.
By the time our air tickets were booked, my list of places to check out was already massive. But excitement aside, there was an important task ahead. Securing a trip was just tip of the iceberg, the real challenge was ensuring that a fruitful schedule was planned out and substantial outcomes were achieved from this time-off from Singapore. After many sleepless nights spent putting the plans together and through a series of hits and misses, we finally had a good itinerary ahead of us.
Among the many admirable entrepreneurs and inspirational business partners we met on the trip, a particular one struck a chord with me because of how similar their story was to ours. Urban Coffee Roasters is a specialty coffee roastery founded by Horry and Gary. The duo started out as friends and over time, bonded over their common interests - food, of course being one of those. In 2014, they turned that hobby into a business, starting off by serving coffee at pop-up markets before going full fledged into owning their own space. Check out their quaint little cafe at Tsim Sha Tsui!
While our trip lasted less than a week, conversations with the team continued and then THIS was born.
Image by Urban Coffee Roasters
This limited release Banko Gotiti coffee chocolate bar we created in collaboration with Urban Coffee Roasters is made with a micro-lot coffee selected by Gary from Ethiopia Yirgacheffe in 2019 harvest season paired with our cacao beans from Rehoboth Estate in the Philippines. With this combination of coffee and cacao, you can expect floral notes with immense blueberry sweetness and a delicate tangerine finish. This bar will be sold exclusively at Urban Coffee Roasters (though we kept a bar for our own secret stash ha!) and since we’ve made a micro-lot, it is available in limited quantities only.
While we won’t be back in Hong Kong for a while, we’re happy to have found new friends and caught up with old ones during this trip. And to those who believe in us, thank you for your support and we really look forward to growing together in the coming years.
Till we meet again, Hong Kong!
Coffee Chocolate - Tiong Hoe Specialty
Coffee chocolate is one of my favourite bars to make. As an coffee enthusiast, working on the coffee chocolate series has been a real joy. It’s a great excuse to taste many great coffees and I’m intrigued by the diverse range of flavours each coffee and chocolate pairings bring. In our countless trial batches, we found that some pairings don’t quite work together, producing flavours that kill off the favourable characters in the coffee. But when we have the right pairing, wonderful flavours such as blueberries, roasted hazelnuts and red dates can come to life. Pairing possibilities are endless. In our latest coffee chocolate, we have collaborated with one of Singapore’s pioneer coffee roastery to bring you a very special chocolate.
Walking into Tiong Hoe Specialty Coffee is like visiting a coffee museum. Lots of coffee and coffee equipment, new and old on display.
If you live around the Queenstown area in Singapore, you’d probably have heard of Tiong Hoe Specialty Coffee. Founded as Tiong Hoe Gim Kee Trading Co by the legendary coffee expert, Mr. Tan Tiong Hoe in the 1960s, this family-owned business is now managed by the second generation, continuing the pursuit of roasting and serving great specialty coffee.
The coffee we’ve chosen this time is Ethiopia Yirgacheffe from the Worka Wuri washing station, developed by the 2016 World Barista Champion, Berg Wu. It’s a natural processed heirloom varietal grown at an elevation of 2040masl. Tiong Hoe’s roast accentuated it’s blueberries, strawberries, peach, grapes, honey and roselle character. Blended with our new Burung cacao (look out for its release next week!), the flavour transforms into a very pleasant notes of wildflower honey, blueberries and hazelnut.
This is a very different chocolate from the previous four coffee chocolates developed with our friends at Homeground Coffee Roasters, and we like that you can taste the coffee roasters’ unique styles in these chocolates. Hope you enjoy it!
These delicious bars will be available at next weekend’s Boutiques Fair (29-31 March 2019) and at selected retail stores in Singapore.
Fossa Chocolate x Drea Chong
Here's a secret little project we've been working on over the past few months with Drea Chong, thoughtfully put together based on the DC community's spirit of fashion, beauty and class.
December. It's the time of the year again when you finally have a good reason to go on endless shopping trips and spend hours scrolling those webstores. Holiday gift buying can be fun but when you don't find that perfect present after days of browsing, it all ends up with a 30 minute frenzy at the store followed by an episode of flying wrapping paper and ribbons at home just before your party.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
Here's a secret little project we've been working on over the past few months with Drea Chong to launch the very special #DCHoliday collection, inspired by her constant struggle to find unique and meaningful gifts. This bar was thoughtfully put together with design and flavour concocted based on the DC community's spirit of fashion, beauty and class.
Cereal Malt - a customised flavour that represents the team's favourite morning snack.
Check out the classy botanical motifs, neutral hues and feminine elements, elegantly designed by Soleil Ignacio from the Philippines!
Read more about Drea's collection here or drop us a note if you’d like to customise your own chocolates too.
Photo credits: Drea Chong