Complements
Complements are a modular system of chocolates to pair and share. They combine 3D printing, design and a collaboration with Sydney artisans of sweetness Bakedown Cakery. They’re delicious on their own, but combine them and something truly special happens – a uniquely mouthwatering flavour greater than the sum of its parts.
We spend our days partnering with some of our favourite people to make great projects. At the end of every year, we like to treat them with a gift. This year, we got to thinking, what kind of gift reflects the nature of these complementary, rewarding relationships? We set about designing our own, and Complements were born.
We get a lot out of pleasure from creating work that delights clients and their customers alike. It’s a feeling we wanted to create in our chocolates, so looked to create a sense of anticipation, and the unexpected – the kind of thrills all good gifts should deliver.
After exploring a wide range of interlocking shape designs, for maximum flexibility, we chose a clean, modular staircase shape for each piece, which combined with another flavour, creates a single bite-sized cube. We used 3D printing to create the cube, which went on to form the chocolate mould.
Once we’d selected a diverse flavour range, using design software we worked on a vibrant mix of colours and painterly finishes like airbrushing, dips and marbling, to create a natural contrast to the geometric shapes. With the designs locked in, Jen from Bakedown Cakery worked her magic developing the flavours and making the chocolates into the real deal.
The design system included a colour palette, type, patterns, textures and finishes. This was carried through in the design of the packaging, with colourful organic texture and geometric shapes to hint at what's inside.
Complements had a fantastic client response and directly contributed to a number of new business leads for our agency.
Although Complements were created for our clients, we like to share the love. We created a website (www.complements.com.au) to tell the story of the chocolates, giving people the chance to invent their own flavour and win a box of their own.
The wider reach of the project has been overwhelming. Whilst the gift was sent to a limited list of recipients, in the short time that it’s been out there in the world, we received astounding numbers of competition entries and unique visitors to the website. The project has been featured in a number of publications around the world, including some well known names.
