Pandora's Pops

Gino and Estela brought Barcelona to Candyland, and we had a world of fun with a bowl of cherries jubilee! Here they are telling us the incredible way their love story began. Check out Gino’s art: , Estela’s custom fashion classes: , and together their new piece, SOMOS NOVIOS, a performance in which a couple communicates through the act of mutually modifying each other’s attire. Gino and Estela will be back in NYC for another art residency next summer. 🇪🇸🥂🍒

The gumball bath in Secret Candyland is a magic idea portal, where new sweets and lollipops are born. Halloween Trick or Treaters are starting to make their wishes known. I rest in the gumballs, see their joyful faces in the clouds above, and gather instructions from the candy muses. The next day, I get to work in the candy kitchen.

I’m an unconventional confectioner. I founded Pandora’s Pops in 2012. It’s grown organically and slowly by design, resonating with my own nervous system and visionary process. Over the past year, I’ve created this transportive space on Broadway in Manhattan, as a creative sanctuary for myself and am just beginning to share it with the world. I would like to give you all a golden ticket, but, since this is a sanctuary and not an amusement park, entrance is limited to a select few. I currently meet with wholesale customers here and event producers wanting custom orders. Stay tuned and reach out if you are curious. 🍬🛁💓

Sometimes a sip or bite comes out of left field and delivers a blast of poetic wonder. It knocks the socks off your taste buds, and your tongue holds off all other sensation and thought for a moment, exquisitely stunned. A door opens to an unexpected adventure. The texture hits a spot you didn’t know existed. In younger years, I remember thinking of this as a “party in my mouth.” As my senses have become more attuned with practice, I now experience these culinary delights with my full being.

The past couple nights, the stars were aligned in Brooklyn, for me to discover not one but two of these master-level food and drink experiences, and to spend a delighted moment with the hard-working geniuses behind them. The first was this exceptional cocktail, created by at . It’s called the Clarified Pandan Painkiller, and it was love at first sip. To drink it is to peek into heaven. The second was the Spicy Tuna Crunch bar bites from Chef Eric Tran from . A friend and I dropped into the .bk for a drink, happened to realize we were hungry and also happened to be sitting next to Eric and his dad, who told us about the new menu. It had just opened, .tay.co. We had no idea how lucky we were about to be.

To be unexpectedly transported into a state of wonder by both of these delicious creations in one small corner of the world leaves me feeling tremendously blessed and grateful. When food, drink and hospitality combine with spontaneity and connection, it is nothing short of magic. Please go check these things out and let me know what you think!

Kiss lollipops, large and small, seen in the wild 💋🍭

Candymaking is a science as well as an art. This week I’ll be testing these two all-natural vegetable and fruit-based powders, to see which produces the finest purple in my candy. (I don’t use artificial colors, which would make things easier in the short term but far less mystical, so why bother?) In the early days of my candy project (2012-14), I made hundreds of test batches, fine-tuning recipes and taking copious notes. There were many failures along the way, which I called the lollipop graveyard. I tried to not go to bed before achieving a successful batch, but sometimes I had to just accept the overall “work in progress” arc.

As you see, the experiments will always continue, as long as we are growing and stretching. One of these bottles will be considered second best. Perhaps they both will be worse than the purple before. I was a perfectionist in my early years, before embracing the butterfly’s cocoon “hot mess” time. Love only the butterfly, and you miss the beauty beyond. Keep experimenting, friends. 🦋💪

Our heart-shaped lollipops are often chosen by brides for wedding favors, bachelorette parties and love celebrations. We do free custom tags for orders of 60 or more. styled and captured these moments (first 4 pics). Stacie is a phenomenal, creative photographer and person: we will collaborate more together! She’s offering discounts on photoshoots and portraits if you book today! 📸🎨

Brides with our Budding Bliss rose candy on the table. styled and captured these moments. Stacie is a phenomenal, creative photographer and person: we will collaborate more together. She’s offering discounts on photoshoots and portraits if you book today! 📸🎨

Budding Bliss are rose, cardamom and vanilla confections, delicious to eat and also beautiful edible additions to dessert table decor or boards. created and captured these sumptuous scenes. Stacie is a phenomenal, creative photographer and person: we will collaborate more together! She’s offering discounts on photoshoots and portraits if you book next couple days. 🌹❤️

Pop the Question! These engagement ring pops are edible, playful and sugar-free. They are fun for creating a moment or for engagement party favors. captured the first two beautiful moments. Stacie is a phenomenal, creative photographer and person: we will collaborate more together! She’s offering discounts on photoshoots and portraits if you book next couple days. 💍❤️

It’s the Olympics of kissing over here. Did you see the coliseum-size lollipops in my last post? Now a team of private pecks have trotted in, eager to show small can be mighty. 💋❤️

New! Kiss lollipop props for parties, spontaneous interactive fun, silly photos, flirting... until you finally break down and enjoy the kiss candy itself! Cheeky cherry flavor, with aphrodisiac damiana to spice things up. Lips fat with love injections. Available now! This is another product sparked by a custom request. Thank you , holistic chef extraordinaire! 💋❤️

Celebrating love! captured these brides enjoying my candy. I will share more of her photos in the coming days. Stacie is a phenomenal, creative photographer and person: we will collaborate more together! She’s offering discounts on photoshoots and portraits if you book next few days. 📸🎨

Secret Candyland was just graced by Jules Cazedessus, dear friend since my first days in NYC (2008) and fellow female founder: (2015). Jules lives in Boulder now, so this was a treat. We sipped butterfly iced tea and confided like friends who’ve shared hundreds of dances over 16 years, while Moana the pup cozied up and dreamt with us, of what’s to come. Long-term friendship is divine.

Here comes the ☀️! Happy summer solstice 2024. This is some window art in Candyland, calling in my new tour. Follow along as it unfolds this summer! Also some beams from Aphrodisia Fest and sunsets from my beach rides this week.

Sacred geometry meets candy shipping. This is one of the staircases in the connected buildings where Pandora’s Pops/Secret Candyland is nestled, 1123 Broadway and 1133 Broadway. I have been here a year, but I’ve only barely explored the two buildings. I do love all the classic features, and meeting my neighbors, mostly designers and architects but also a vast variety of creative businesses. The buildings were built in 1896 in the Gilded Age and are connected by an interior passageway. We share a business center, right next to this staircase. When you order candy from my website, it normally ships out from this business center. Living its best spiral life, on the way to you.

What is the significance of a spiral? Consider the chambered nautilus. As the nautilus (a mollusk) matures, it shifts into increasingly larger shell chambers, to accommodate its growing body. Rather than discard its past shell like a molting crab, it uses the spiral of smaller chambers inside the shell as a swimming version of jet propulsion, like the ballast tanks of a submarine. This is a metaphor for growth and evolution, using our past as fuel for the future, while existing in the present and striving forward. Beyond the nautilus, the DNA spiral contains the genetic code for each unique individual life.

I think of the DNA spiral often, as two humans connect and create something new together. When my candy goes out into the world, we are all connecting in a physical and energetic way. Thank you for sharing this living dance with me.

Happy Pride from aphrodisiac Candyland! Edible art on bottom, disco on top, celebration of life in between! 🌈🪩

Pre-holiday swirl. I’m attempting to be on creative retreat this weekend, developing a new project. I WILL be having watermelon by the pool. It’s my favorite fruit. What’s yours?