From Paper to Production: The Art of Love Tin

This Valentine’s Day, we wanted to celebrate love in a different way. We wanted to create a collection filled with biscuit designs everyone could fall in love with, something that encompassed all the types of love we can celebrate this time of year.

Passion, love and romance have long been a key topic in famous artwork, so it makes perfect sense that the latest addition to the Biscuiteers biscuit portfolio, The Art of Love tin, was inspired by this.

Much like the great works from the artists that have inspired our new Valentines biscuits, a lot of artistry goes into designing and developing every collection we make here at the Ministry of Biscuits, from the initial designs put down on paper, to the intricate hand icing over in production.

So, in the spirit of our celebration for all things art and love, we thought we’d share a behind the scenes look at the artistry and attention that has gone into developing our newest Valentine’s Day Biscuit collection.

Establishing the designs
When exploring the concept, Lettie, Lucy, Rachel, and their brilliant product development team knew they wanted to choose recognisable artwork from iconic artists. Upon doing some research they realised that abstract expressionism lent itself well to the Biscuiteers style of icing.

The team then investigated lots of different artists known for their work within this genre, creating hand-iced samples inspired by their historic designs.

Once they had a selection of designs to choose from, the team then took a step back and looked at the biscuits as a group, seeing which worked best together.
For this collection it meant, making sure there was a good mix of freehand and rigid designs, as well as seeing which colours compliment each other the most to ensure we ended up with a wide variety of artwork.
Which artists inspired the collection?
Wassily Kandinsky - Credited for his explosive paintings often inspired by music.
Bridget Riley - Best known for her Op-Art pieces that produce a disorienting effect on the eye.
Jackson Pollock - A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, widely known for his Drip Technique.
Pablo Picasso - A painter, sculptor and printmaker credited for co-founding the Cubist movement.
Piet Mondian - Known as a pioneer of 20th-century abstract art and use of geometric design.
Henri Matisse - A visual artist famous for his use of colour and fluid design.
Icing the biscuits
Once approved, the development team get to work briefing all of our talented icers on how to ice the new collection. This is done by capturing detailed pictures of each icing stage; the outline, flood icing, and all the small details, so the icing team knows how to produce the designs.

Those close to the design process also work collaboratively with our icers to make sure the biscuits can not only be iced beautifully, but are also manageable for the team to create.
The final touches
Et Voilà! Well, not quite.
Now we have our perfectly iced Art of Love tin, we need to get lots of lovely pictures to show off the designs.

That’s where our talented Content Creator Shabira comes in. Being as this collection is all about artists and their artistry, there’s a natural theme for her to follow. For the shoot she wanted to emulate an artist's studio with a light and bright feel.

When mood boarding and collecting props, she makes sure her idea will work well with the rest of our Valentines collection, ensuring we’ll end up with a nice cohesive campaign, and it did!
…and that is just what’s involved in the production of one of our biscuit creations! For a behind the scenes look at what it takes to successfully deliver one our busiest times of year, check out our Biscuiteers Elves blog. We talk to four people from different areas of the Ministry of Biscuits about their role at Biscuiteers in the run up to Christmas.