Art & Cacao Project: Limited edition cacao infused art, printed on our 500g boxes.

Every edition, we ask a different designer to create an illustration, specially for these boxes, while drinking Wild Child Cacao. 

Up now: Sophie Holt

Read our interview with her below to learn more about Sophie and the artwork!

Can you tell us something about yourself? Age? Hobbies? Upgrowing, studies, work? 😀

My name is Sophie, born in Christchurch (Aotearoa – New Zealand) raised in Utrecht in the Netherlands. After my study at Nimeto in Utrecht, I decided to travel to my birth country and I fell in love with it and decided to stay. I have made art to sell from the age of 17 and apart from a few jobs here and there I am now a full time artist for over 12 years and I feel very lucky to have this as my job. I see myself as an illustrator and I use different mediums. Mainly known for my ceramic work but I’ve painted on clothes, canvasses and I create merchandise too like tea towels, drink bottles, stationary and jewellery. I love the balance between all of them. However my goal is for this year is to play a bit more and create bigger artworks, I have moved into a bigger home so I have more space to do all the things!

What was your first reaction when Wild Child Cacao approached you
for this collaboration? What excited you most about designing
packaging for a 100% cacao brand?

I don’t think there is a better feeling in the world when you are in that beautiful creative flow, when you forget you have a hot drink because you are so absorbed in your work. But the flip side of that coin is the awful feeling when you can’t get there. I don’t really have a solution for it but to just ride it out for however long it takes and I make my repetitive artwork like painting on cups I sell. 
My normal routine is to get up at 6 am- get my son to the school bus- take a walk with my dog and get into my studio. I’m most productive in the morning. 
 

Where do you get your inspiration from? Who/what inspires you?

I always find this a hard question. I think inspirations come from many places, conversations and people. I am not great with words so my images help me process what is happening around me. I love creating different worlds with crazy creatures and colours.

What was your first reaction when Wild Child Cacao approached you
for this collaboration? What excited you most about designing
packaging for a 100% cacao brand?

First reaction was: WOOHOOO! And because I grew up in the Netherlands I thought it was even extra cool. I drink ceremonial cacao daily too so it felt all perfect to me. I was in the middle of moving house and manning 3 galleries at the same time but I was determined to make it work and I am happy how the design came out. I can’t wait to try Wild Child Cacao!

How did you approach the design for the Wild Child Cacao
packaging? Were there any challenges in translating your artistic style
to a functional product?

I made some sketches first and checked in with Malou which direction she liked to go in and when she picked her favourite I worked on that design. I knew the packaging is this beautiful deep green and chose pink to go with that. I wanted to keep it light, happy and a little bit wild with my plants and creatures. I absolutely had so much fun creating the artwork.

What do you hope people feel or think when they see your artwork on
the Wild Child Cacao box? Is there a story or message embedded in
the design?

I think what I would like people to feel is delight, happiness and bring a smile to your face, something we all need in these crazy times. 

get an artwork box here