zondag 21 april 2013

Chocolate Jezus: chocolate pusher


Chocolate Jezus logo
I don't go to church on Sunday
Don't get on my knees to pray
Don't memorize the books of the Bible
I got my own special way



Tom Waits found his chocolate Jesus in Zerelda Lee's candy store, but you can find it right here in Ghent. With Chocolate Jezus Julie Ragusa-van Schooten, chef by diploma with roots in photography, wants to offer you a high quality and special chocolate experience. She loves chocolate so much she calls herself a "chocolate pusher". Let's find out why!




Rosie & The Rabbits: How would you describe Chocolate Jezus? What's your elevator pitch?

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten (founder Chocolate Jezus): If people needed to get any impression I would want them to think it tastes very good and the quality is very high. The products are organic and dairy free but that is just aside. It's mentioned that everything is organic but I don't want to focus on that. I want it to be unique and delicious in the first place.


Rosie & The Rabbits: Why did you call it Chocolate Jezus?

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten: Music is a passion. I don't play anything but I go a lot to concerts. And my favourite song by Tom Waits is Chocolate Jesus. The only problem was: when typing it online you only find the song, so I changed the -s into -z and so now it's even spelled in Dutch.


Rosie & The Rabbits: To be honest we're not chocolate's biggest fans... How would you convince us?

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten: I'm very particular on white chocolate, because normally it's too sweet and people don't see it as chocolate. So my challenge is when you eat it you wouldn't say it's white chocolate. I often make a delicate ganache that is so smooth and people simply love that.


Rosie & The Rabbits: Do you need your daily piece of chocolate?

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten: If there's a day without, something is definitely wrong. But when working for hours on truffles I don't touch them. I call myself a chocolate pusher because I'm always pushing chocolate on people to get an objective opinion.


Rosie & The Rabbits: Your website tells us people can also host a chocolate party?

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten: Well, I always want to come up with something new; I don't want to make something over and over again and I want to surprise people. So a chocolate party is the ideal way to try out things. I have done two now, mainly to introduce people to my ideas. I don't only make sweet things as in desserts, but any dish with chocolate is an option.


Rosie & The Rabbits: Do you use Belgian chocolate in your creations?

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten: No, to be honest mostly chocolate from Germany because it's organic and dairy free, and if you want to mention another term: it's fairtrade as well. But I love Belgian chocolate from local stores, definitely. If there would be a local company delivering organic, dairy free fairtrade chocolate, I would definitely work with them. On the other hand it can be all this, but if it doesn't taste good, what's the point?


Rosie & The Rabbits: If your career would have been completely different, what would it have been like?

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten: I have done so many things, from documentary films, over photography to food. I think it would have been music related. With food however I have truly found my niche. I know I will always work with chocolate but I will push myself to always find something new.


Rosie & The Rabbits: On your blog you are very open and honest: you share your success recipes with everyone.

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten: I like to talk about chocolate, I'm an open book. I also see it as a compliment if people ask how I did things. Sharing recipes is also a way to bring people to my site and in the end: to my chocolate.


Rosie & The Rabbits: Do you see shops selling your creations one day?

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten: Oh, that would be lovely but I prefer to take one step at a time. When processing chocolate in huge quantities I would really worry about the quality. That would be my main concern, and actually it already is now. If I got this kind of demand I would of course be very happy but tormented at the same time. Anyhow, I should start thinking about taking it to a next level because it's coming soon. Right now vegetarian restaurant Avalon is selling my chocolate but I cannot keep up with the stock; it sells so quickly!


Rosie & The Rabbits: How different would it be for you to sell your chocolate in a shop?

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten: What I'm doing now suits me better: I need to go out and meet new people and it's totally in my nature to do that. In a shop you're waiting for people to get to you.


Rosie & The Rabbits: What do you like the most: the creative thinking part or the doing part?

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten: I must say it can sometimes be stressful to think of recipes; you're putting money, effort and time into it. When it doesn't work, that's always disappointing and it lowers self-esteem a bit.... But I learn a lot; it's a challenge to solve the problems. I'm not a chocolatier and will never claim to be so but I work really hard.

The fun part is putting it in its package and putting the Chocolate Jezus logo on it! Of course, seeing people trying my chocolate and enjoying it is very nice too. Perhaps I focus on the technical aspect too much, but you can't avoid being technical with chocolate, because if you don't, you make so many mistakes. For several months I have been trying and testing and at one point it started coming together.


Rosie & The Rabbits: If you look back, are things going as expected?

Julie Ragusa-van Schooten: Things are going surprisingly well, but I'm not sure yet what kind of direction I'm going to. I get such a wonderful response and I still don't really work on it full-time. So I think, if I would, the response would even be greater. So far it was mainly an experiment to see what orders I would get.



You can buy these delicious Chocolate Jezus creations at restaurant Avalon or host a chocolate party with some friends!



www.facebook.com/chocolatejezus


Pictures: Chocolate Jezus



maandag 8 april 2013

AFt: smiles to think about



AFt − Smiling is contagious
During this cold and long winter even exceptionally optimistic people can feel a little grumpy when wandering through the city. If you are one of those people however, we have good news for you: keep your eyes open because you might see this lovely smiling lady anywhere! Perceptive souls will already have noticed some funny and cheerful objects in the streets that normally aren't there, such as colourful stencils and little painted figures. Street artist AFt, which stands for Art For Thought, has a lot of fun creating them and giving them a special place on the street; his mission is only accomplished if he can make people smile. Since AFt himself is just as mysterious as his work, we asked our questions via e-mail and constructed this interview without ever meeting our guest.



Rosie & The Rabbits: Was Art For Thought a slow process evolving gradually or did you wake up one day with the idea of restyling these little statues and giving them a new life?

AFt (street artist): It was a very slow process. Ever since I was a child I was interested in graffiti, but I have to admit I wasn't really good at it myself. It didn't go any further than a couple of forced tags. A new impulse only came when I was thirty: I was in Paris and saw mosaic figures from an old computer game popping up.  I thought it was a genius idea; it was surprising, original, new. The street artist behind these figures was Space Invader. I wanted to do something similar but it still took me a couple of years to shape my thoughts. 



Rosie & The Rabbits: Do you remember the exact moment when you were thinking: "now I'm going to do this"? 

AFt: A bottle of good Scotch can work miracles! One evening some friends and I were talking about street art when suddenly I knew what I wanted to do. The idea of painting the little statues was born. In this early phase Pieter De Kegel, a friend of mine, editor of PostrMagazin and notorious connoisseur of street art, had an undeniable role. He really convinced me to actually go through with it; at that moment I was (and still am) quite uncertain about my work.  It's so valuable to have someone believing in you then. 


Rosie & The Rabbits: Where do you find these typical statues?

AFt: It's a plague! In Flanders we definitely have more of these figures than inhabitants. Flea markets, thrift stores ..., you can find them everywhere. At home, when the children are asleep, I "tackle" these statues: I cut pieces out, add details or accessories, paint them, add text, etc. It depends on the moment.


Rosie & The Rabbits: What inspires you most?

AFt: The world we're living in is crazy enough. We take things for granted all the time but if you look around in an an open-minded and unprejudiced way, you get inspired by pretty much anything. I'm lucky to be travelling by train a couple of hours per day; gives me lots of time to think. What else inspires me? Literature, indignation, critical journalists (PostrMagazine), the internet, my job, art, my wife and children, irritation ..., but most of all: my own imagination! I want to send the world a positive message, pleasantly surprise people and perhaps make them reflect on things. Most of the people are living incredibly well here and still a lot of them are complaining, nagging, negative and bitter. What I'm doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean, but at least it's a drop.


Rosie & The Rabbits: Does the work of other artists inspire you as well?

AFt: At first I didn't know very well what was going on in the street art scene. I knew Banksy and a couple of Ghent graffiti artists like Bue The Warrior and ROA, but that was about it. In the meantime I got to know the work of Isaac Cordal, C215, the Pothole Gardener, Max Zorn, Sara Conti, ... All very interesting artists and immersing yourself in what they do works very inspiring. Recently I discovered My Dog Sighs, a British artist who paints funny faces on crushed cans to leave these on the street. Isn't that great?


Rosie & The Rabbits: Does the anonymous aspect give you a kick?

AFt: It's more a necessity really. Even if the "illegal" aspect is quite small in my case, I don't want to get one of these local administrative fines. It gives me more freedom as well: I can kick people in the shins, break taboos and express my opinion in an uncensored way, without having to worry about the reactions. Moreover I don't think I as a person matter. My work should speak for itself, the person behind it is not that important. 


Rosie & The Rabbits: In what respect would your work be different if it would be shown in a museum?

AFt: Funny question. First of all I don't think my work will ever be shown in a big museum, but it is a "tension field" to which contemporary artists are confronted more often these days. Within short I will be participating in an exposition and that was a challenge. The street context unmistakably adds an extra dimension to your work, but how do you reproduce this effect in a gallery or exposition? Recently I started to cooperate with a very talented photographer (Hanne Lamon) and she succeeds perfectly in capturing this extra dimension in her pictures. An advantage for myself is that I can keep a tangible souvenir of my work when it has been taken away by someone. 


Rosie & The Rabbits: Do you sometimes hear from people who found a little statue of yours? 

AFt: Unfortunately not... I'm curious about it, that's for sure, and via Facebook I asked for it already but without any result. The work of street artists is more and more taken away by people who think they can make money out of it. Banksy is a well know example, but I cannot imaging that in my case that would be the reason. 


Rosie & The Rabbits: Do you sign your work?

AFt: It always has AFt written on it and because I don't want the statues to fall on someone's head, I always glue them quite thoroughly.


Rosie & The Rabbits: Do you leave your creations out there when travelling abroad or in other Belgian cities?

AFt: Yes. You can (or at least could) find my work in Ghent, Antwerp, Ronse, Berlin, Glasgow and even South Africa.


Rosie & The Rabbits: You also use stencils. Who is the mysterious smiling girl on these stencils?

AFt: First of all: working with stencils is great! I prefer minimalistic stencils with one or two colours. I was looking for a powerful image that would make people feel better instantly. And then I bumped into a picture of a friend of mine who has one of the most expressive faces I have ever seen. In the past she was quite well known so people have the feeling they have seen here before but they never know exactly where. 
Recently I heard a story of a little girl who saw one of my stencils and said to her mother: "when I see that lady, I immediately want to smile too". That must have been the nicest compliment I got about my work.


Rosie & The Rabbits: Do your children know about your secret mission?

AFt: My children are a little bit too young to completely understand what I'm doing. Nevertheless, the eldest will definitely  "blab it out" one day: when passing by one of my figures he always says in a very enthusiastic way: "that's from daddy, right?".  Anyhow, in our house it's very obvious, it's one big studio, you can imagine how happy my wife is with that. Soon my godchild will drop by and he already asked once if he could make such a little statue as well and than go out at night to put it somewhere. I'm not sure whether this makes me a good or a bad godfather. (smiles)



www.facebook.com/ArtForThought


AFt: Stencils and little painted statues in Ghent
(Pictures: AFt)