Schoolchildren will be producing their own chocolate bar following their winning design, chosen by Liam Burgess, the Welsh Wonka at Nomnom Chocolate.
Nomnom set a group of schoolchildren a competition brief as part of Coleg Sir Gâr’s National Art and Design Saturday Club where pupils from Coedcae, St John Lloyd, Glan y Mor, Bryngwyn, Strade and Pontarddulais attend every Saturday morning. The club is delivered by the college as part of the Sorrell Foundation’s national scheme and it’s funded locally by Reaching Wider.
Business owner Liam Burgess, also known as the director of mischief at Nomnom, set a brief for the youngsters to design their own chocolate bar. Within three hours, the 14 to 16 year-olds had to think of a new product, experiment with texture and taste and present their idea using a 3D model with branded packaging to the head of the Llanboidy-based company. “The group relished the challenge of working with a young creative entrepreneur and came up with exciting concepts for a new chocolate bar,” said Sarah Hopkins, who heads the club and creative industries at the college. “Taking this project to the next level at the company’s premises is really taking the learning experience beyond the classroom.”
Ideas included a breakfast bar, which fused chocolate with a fry-up flavour, a honeypot bar which Liam Burgess said could raise awareness of the decline of bees with its variety of honey-based products. The Twpsy Turvy bar was described as a solid commercial product fit for the shelves and the winning design, Gaybar, will be made by the winning team at Nomnom in April where it will be prototyped and released next year in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youngsters.
Kebren Drew from St John Lloyd was complimented by the company director who said he would be suitable for running his own business and Tegan Hughes, a club ambassador from Coedcae School said: “I’m incredibly excited, it’s the best thing ever to win and make our own chocolate bar.”
Sarah Hopkins added: “We have lots of exciting plans in the chocolate pipeline where Coleg Sir Gâr will be working on future partnership projects with Nomnom.”