If Ed Ruscha made a chocolate bar, it would hit just the right note between Californian bounty and playful elegance. Lucky, then, that his first foray into sweet edible art embodies exactly this, with a collaboration with andSons Chocolatiers bringing an arty spin to ‘Made in California’, a seriously good chocolate.
Why chocolate? ‘We think the best kind of art is one that raises questions and opens a dialogue,’ says Marc Covitz of the family-run, Beverly Hills-based chocolatier. ‘This particular work always resonated and was an invitation to explore what Made in California means to us. We grew up seeing Ruscha's work and were re-inspired by his recent retrospectives at MoMA and LACMA. We approached the studio and were so pleased with their willingness to collaborate. After many iterations, the project fell into place quite easily.’
The result is made of three ingredients: blood orange olive oil from Petaluma, Sonoma County; sea salt from Tomales Bay; and 73 per cent Peruvian dark chocolate roasted by Chef Thomas Keller in Napa Valley. It is cast in a handcrafted mould of a section of California's Central Valley, stretching from the Pacific Ocean down to the Santa Lucia Mountains. ‘Chef Sandy Tran dreamed up this visual expression, of a region known for agriculture,’ Covitz adds. ‘From her experience of being the executive pastry chef of The French Laundry in Napa. Chef Sandy was familiar with many Californian organic farms. She and our culinary team take an ingredient-first approach and hand-select each vendor. It is also meaningful to our family business to identify and support other independent businesses.’
The chocolate comes in a cloth-wrapped box printed with a reproduction of Ruscha’s lithograph, Made in California (1971), courtesy of the artist and Gagosian. Says Covitz, ‘[He’s] one of the great artists of our time, [and] we could not resist the opportunity to craft a playful response to the work.’
Made in California is $295, in an edition of 300, and available from early December 2025 for pick-up in Beverly Hills or USA and Canada shipping, and-sons.com; sign up on the website to get notified
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