Chocolate science: New retail facility opens in Singapore

Singapore – Chocolate with seasonal ingredients, along with alcohol, tea, coffee and fruits including banana, lychee, cranberry and mango are just a few of the current research projects at Singapore’s recently opened Chocolate Research Facility. Like the name, the store is a calculated study in lab-like coolness. Apothecary-style ceiling-to-floor wall drawers contain over 100 different varieties of chocolate (76% proof from Earl Grey to blueberry!). Bars are laid out in neat, scientific, display grids, their monochrome fronts hiding the ‘true flavour explosions’ behind and within; the bars’ backs and sides feature bright synth-culture design.

Asylum Singapore-based consultancy, is working on the design and branding for the store. Its ceiling and walls are chocolate-coloured, the chocolate frozen in time as it pours down the walls, a motif carried through to the Chocolate Research Facility website. Here, cascades of brown and bitter-coloured chocolate ooze from top to bottom of the screen, obliterating the text in a unstoppable waterfall of chocolate. Delicious.