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KIMBERLEY LOVATONo standard sampler boxes here. Pierre Marcolini aims to join the icons of style and luxury with his creations.
BRUSSELS - The Grand Sablon quarter is one of this world capital's most stylish neighborhoods. Its cobbled streets and meandering alleyways are speckled with high-end antique shops and chic cafes. It's fitting then that chocolate maker Pierre Marcolini has opened his boutique here.
The white marble floors, black matte walls and fresh red roses in the store, located in a 17th-century building, are merely the backdrop for thousands of precious pieces artistically displayed behind class. Clients peer at the displays, selecting gems by one of Europe's eminent confectioners, to be placed neatly in simple boxes tied with string.
In a land where chocolate has reigned supreme for more than 100 years, Marcolini has emerged as royalty. The energetic 40-year-old is slowly growing an empire: He hopes his name becomes synonymous around the world with quality and luxury.
"I don't want to be a trend," says Marcolini.
Instead, this Belgian-born chocolatier has designed his stores to resemble those of high-end jewelers, and his little, black, square boxes are as classic as the timeless Little Black Dress of Coco Chanel.
Marcolini says he wants his name to be mentioned when such luxury brands as Hermes, Van Cleef and Arpels, Belgian leather goods maker Delvaux and Hennessy Cognac. "I admire companies like Hennessy," Marcolini said recently. "For centuries the same family has run these companies. They have survived economic crises and world wars and still they kept their long-term strategy and business plan. They are omnipresent."
Even as a child, Marcolini recalled, he was impressed by chocolate: He said that he used to hide the confections in dresser drawers, so he could "discover" them for later enjoyment. At 14 he took a job in a Brussels patisserie.
"It was magic," he said. "An egg, sugar, flour, milk and cream. The products combined to create something amazing. I was hooked."
Marcolini said that he proceeded to learn the trade "in the school of the world," traveling to Zurich, Singapore, France, Italy, Denmark and Spain. He worked in pastry kitchens and wrote recipes on greasy pieces of butter-stained paper that he still keeps in a notebook.
His talent first won wide recognition when he won an international patisserie competition in 1995, at age 30. Since then, he has built a following of bon vivants hooked on his innovative mix of flavors such as jasmine, lemon tea, violette and thyme.
Customers flock to his boutiques to buy his pieces of "art." Some are plain chocolate, while others are topped with almonds, swishes of gold or cream. Some pieces carry an insignia noting their country of origin, and Marcolini's signature cocoa bean logo, stenciled in cocoa butter, adorns still others.
Marcolini has opened 14 shops, in Belgium, London, Paris and in Tokyo, where lines on Valentine's Day were said to be two hours long. His first boutique in the United States opened in February on New York's Park Avenue.
He said he has no desire to open hundreds of stores but would rather open 50 boutiques in the world's greatest cities, in order to maintain the quality of his product.
He would not disclose the location for his next store, but he noted that Florida's warm, humid environment is not so chocolate friendly: "It's best to keep chocolate well wrapped and in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator," he advised. "Take it out a half-hour before you eat it."
Marcolini considers himself an artisan, and he is extremely confident. He thinks little about his competition.
"When there are millions of people in the world, there is always going to be someone better. I prefer to wake up and say, "What can I make happen today, not what can I do to beat the other guy?' "
Marcolini is one of only four Europeans entitled to call themselves a "chocolatier" - a title bestowed only upon those who make their own couverture, or chocolate in its pure form.
"It used to be, 100 years ago, that all chocolate makers made chocolate from the cocoa bean," he related. "That's not the case today. Most buy it ready made."
The self-professed perfectionist travels two to three times a year to buy his cocoa beans. They are roasted and blended in his 9,300-square-footworkshop in Brussels where all his chocolates (about 200 tons per year) are created. By comparison, Godiva creates about 6,000 tons per year. This month and in July, Marcolini is traveling to Mexico, Venezuela and Madagascar to select cocoa and vanilla beans, as well as visit a pear plantation.
Though he has numerous awards and growing name-recognition beyond Belgium, Marcolini is quick to pronounce his biggest success: "My son, Sacha," aged 15. "Having a child gives you a true sense of your life."
Marcolini indulges in chocolate everyday - "dark chocolate in the morning and milk chocolate in the afternoon."
He said one of his favorite films (he has a copy in his office) is Chocolat, in which the heroine brings charm and good will to a small French town through her chocolate confections. And yes, Marcolini believes that is possible. "One bite of Marcolini chocolate and you'll smile all day too," he said with a laugh typical of his warm wit.
Anyone spending time with Marcolini can see that for him, fashioning chocolate is more than just a job, even more than a treat. For him it is still, as it was when he was young, magical.
"Chocolate is an unselfish emotion," said Marcolini, his hands waving wildly. "It's something you share with friends and family - the tastes, the smells, like good food and good wine. It's an alchemy of flavor. They all go hand in hand."
- Freelance writer Kimberley Lovato, a former St. Petersburg resident, lives in Brussels.
For more information, go to www.marcolini.be