So, way back in November 2013, while on a little excursion to Amsterdam, I picked up a bar of the delicious Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate (that link is for their site in the Netherlands, head over to the US Chocolonely site if you prefer to read in English). I loved the packaging and the ethos behind the brand, which aims to revolutionise the chocolate industry, making it 100% slave-free. (And if your reaction to that is “What the? There are slaves making the chocolate I eat? That can’t be right”, then take a look at this short film from Chocolonely.)

Anyway, I wrote a blog post about it, and Chocolonely’s brand guru / art director / generally wonderful person, Arjen Klinkenberg (aka Klink) got in touch to say hi, and promised to visit when he was in town.

Jump to today, and I’ve just had a visit from him, and he dropped off a whole heap of their delicious and beautifully designed chocolate for the studio!*

We’ve munched through the milk chocolate and the milk caramel sea salt bars so far, and they’re totally yummy. That still leaves the dark chocolate, milk hazelnut, milk pretzel toffee, pecan, white, white with raspberry and crackling sugar, and loads more to try.

Y. U. M.

If you’d like to know more about the great work they’re doing, download their Annual FAIR Report (for 2016/17).

Hopefully we’ll be able to get our mits on their chocolate in the UK before too long. They’re a pioneering example of a great product that’s actively trying to change an entire industry for the better.

Huge thanks to Arjen for making our day.

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*Getting a whole heap of chocolate today also works as a rather fantastic birthday present, as the We Made This blog has just celebrated its 12th birthday! We started blogging back in March 2006, and have been yammering on about design and visual culture ever since. Have a hunt through our blog archives (you can browse by category or date) – or search for something particular using the search tool.