Palomas x India Mahdavi
When chocolate meets the art of design.
For the festive season, Palomas® is delighted to invite India Mahdavi to redesign its boxes, bags and, for once, its chocolate. For the first time since its creation, India Mahdavi's ‘Bishop’ stool can be enjoyed in a new composition, a delightful and delicious fusion between India Mahdavi's singular style and the taste of Palomas® fine chocolate.
The Collaboration
It had always been my dream to make a chocolate Bishop. So when Maison Palomas® invited me to customise their Christmas packaging, I jumped at the chance to come up with a Bishop-shaped chocolate - not just to celebrate the festive season, but also the 20th anniversary of my eponymous stool.
I like the idea of changing the scale and turning an everyday object into an edible one. Like in Alice in Wonderland, the chocolate Bishop, like the mushroom, takes us into a gourmet landscape of exotic flavours thanks to the talent of Dominique Clerc.
The Creations
The Boxes
The packaging, designed by India Mahdavi, features the ‘Criss Cross’ pattern, a contemporary interpretation of a classic tartan motif that captures the essence of her style. This signature pattern, both graphic and colourful, features a geometric weave that expresses the joie de vivre so dear to India Mahdavi and the House of Palomas®. Palomas® products, such as the iconic Palet de Fourvière®, will also be available in these boxes. This limited edition is available in boxes of 6 or 12 pieces.
The Palomas® Bishop
The Bishop is transformed into a delicious treat to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The dark chocolate of the House of Palomas® is sublimated here by the enveloping notes of pistachio paste, whose silky texture blends with the crunch of the six Iranian pistachios carefully arranged, whole, in each Bishop. The pistachios, lightly roasted and with a hint of fleur de sel, combine with the intensity of the Peruvian chocolate to evoke the enchanting scents of Persian markets and the ancestral culinary traditions of Iran. A unique sensory experience for the most demanding palates. The chocolate bishops are presented on a bed of Abbassi mauve, in reference to the distinctive colour used by the Iranian miniaturist Reza Abbassi. In this way, the colours and flavours of the chocolates evoke Iran.
India Mahdavi
World-renowned architect and designer India Mahdavi is renowned for her bold use of colour and organic shapes.
Her projects, spread across the globe, inspire with their unique approach to design and space. Her work is intimately linked with colours, even going so far as to create new ones, such as the mauve Abbassi, in homage to a 17th-century Persian miniaturist of the same name. Her acid pop style and visual grammar have left their mark in cities such as Miami, London, Milan, Tokyo, Geneva and Arles.
She has designed a host of iconic venues, including the Connaught bar and The Gallery at Sketch in London, Monte Carlo Beach in Monaco, the Hôtel du Cloître in Arles, and most recently the Piano Nobile at the Villa Medici in Rome, leaving her own distinctive mark on each place. The artist who defines herself as polychrome and polyglot blurs the boundaries between ornament, interior architecture, design and graphics.
Some of her creations, such as the famous Bishop stool, have become classics of contemporary design. Created in 2004, the Bishop was inspired by the Bishop, the piece on the chessboard that takes the diagonal instead of the straight line. After being produced in all sizes and in around twenty colours, and entering the collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Centre George Pompidou, it has been returned to its original size to become edible.
