Life is sweet for self confessed chocoholic
Regan Kelly
Westmeath’s answer to Willy Wonka has been making life a bit sweeter for the last 15 years, and realising a dream while doing so.
Olivia Curran set up An Olivia Chocolate in 2010, inspired by Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory since she was a child.
Olivia graduated from DIT with a degree in Food Quality Assurance in 1999. During her studies, she began applying to chocolate factories in Dublin, and secured a placement with Lir Chocolates.
That is where Olivia found the inspiration to start making her own: “I just love making things, and with chocolate, you can incorporate different colours and textures, and whatever you create, you can also eat!”
Olivia’s father, Peter, created the first indoor hurley, and through their family business, Curran Hurling, Olivia learned skills she would later incorporate into her life as a chocolatier .
Olivia said: “I used to do all the mouldings on the high-pressure polyurethane machine, which is funny now because I’ve incorporated skills from one aspect of a business into another.
“Chocolate is quite similar to polycarbonate moulds and silicone, in the way you can use them and work with them.”
Creativity is key for any culinary artist, and on finishing her degree, Olivia began making cakes for friends and family.
“I made a cake for my niece and on her third birthday, a three-tier mermaid cake. After saving up some money making cakes, I went on a professional chocolate wedding cake course to learn how to properly temper chocolate.
“So little by little, I progressed to doing chocolate full-time, just by starting with the cakes and learning.” Olivia has always been chocolate-obsessed. She used to watch Willy Wonka every Christmas and was in awe of the chocolate features in his factory. She is a self-proclaimed chocoholic.
Speaking on why she decided to pursue a career in chocolate, Olivia said: “As a kid, I used to have three bars of chocolate every morning!
“I’m a chocoholic, I love it. If I’m being honest, I am my own best customer. As I say to everyone, chocolate has a feel-good factor, just eat it, enjoy it and stop thinking about it, life is hard enough.”
Being a business owner is important to Olivia, but supporting local is something she believes strongly in. She has been heavily involved with a new programme in Westmeath called ‘Taste of Westmeath’, which aims to bring together food and drink producers and craft makers in the county.
“I love to use a lot of local artisan products in my chocolates, and that is great because you’re incorporating them in your work.
“It can be anything really, just trying to use local ingredients like Irish cream liquor, Irish salt, Irish honey, just to keep the money local.”
Olivia adores being her won version of Willy Wonka, getting to follow her dreams and have a career in which she loves, and she often aims to push others to do the same thing: “Life is monotonous and boring, so find something you love doing and people that you get along with.
“Looking back, years ago, I got this card from a little girl around eight or nine years old, and it transpired that she was doing a project in school on me.
“She was doing it on one of my chocolates that I named after my nephew, which is so special to me to think about.”
“My aim is always to invoke memories, like a taste that takes them back to a childhood memory, but I’ll always remember the stories.”
The official launch of Taste of Westmeath is at Killua Castle on September 28 (see facing page).