A FORMER design editor at The Scotsman and recent editor of Scottish consumer magazine, Homes & Interiors Scotland, has gone full-time… making chocolate bars.
But Sandra Colamartino’s chocolate bars are as much about the wrapping as they are the chocolate, appearing as they do in exquisitely-designed boxes, for clients such as the National Trust for Scotland.
The Chocolate Library also works to commission, for individual brands, such as The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh. Her bars for the NTS range across 12 famous locations throughout the country, such as Glencoe and the Glenfinnan Monument.
She left as editor of Homes & Interiors Scotland last month, to be succeeded by her deputy, Gillian Welsh.
She is also a former design editor with The Financial Times, The Scotsman Magazine, and Scotland on Sunday’s Spectrum magazine.
She says: “I launched the first range of chocolate bars, Landmarks of Scotland, in the spring of last year, with the help of renowned illustrator, Iain McIntosh.
“He created a fantastic set of drawings to go with the series and it was a bit of an experiment to test the market. These bars attracted a lot of interest and requests came in from companies keen to develop their own unique bars in a similar style.”
The Chocolate Library has fast become a serious player in the labelling business.
“I was struggling, juggling the magazine and the business, so when the National Trust for Scotland commissioned me to do a series of bars telling the story of 12 of their most popular attractions, I decided it was time to take the plunge.
‘It’s a bit bonkers, I’ll admit. But it’s exciting to be working on something totally new and there certainly does seem to be a demand for the product. Oh, and of course I can eat as much chocolate as I like and pretend that I am proof reading.”
