Cocoa Calypso

Shelly and Khalid already run Island Pops, a beloved Caribbean-inspired ice cream shop in Brooklyn. This was their next chapter.

The brand needed to feel luxurious yet playful — “luxurious yet playful, movement-driven, modern” were their exact words in the branding questionnaire. The packaging had to do serious work: six signature bar flavours, a hot chocolate pouch, bon bon box stickers, and custom ribbon for gift wrapping — all print-ready for production dielines.

Each bar became its own world. The packaging system is built on a consistent structure: bold COCOA CALYPSO wordmark, dark lower panel, full-bleed photography above, but each flavour has its own colour story and image. 

The photographs were selected from my own Chasing the Caribbean collection — giving the packaging a photographic integrity that licensed stock could never match. Shelly’s reaction to the Spiced Sorrel design said it plainly: “Love the sorrel packaging. This is a winner for me.”