{"id":7,"date":"2026-05-27T20:20:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robinmarsh.vagabond.andreidraganescu.info\/?page_id=7"},"modified":"2026-05-27T20:20:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:20:41","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/robinmarsh.vagabond.andreidraganescu.info\/?page_id=7","title":{"rendered":"About the Maker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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I make candy the way I wish it tasted as a child.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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How It Started<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in my grandmother’s kitchen, watching her pour caramel into buttered tins and roll truffles between her palms until they were perfectly round. She never measured. She tasted. She knew when the sugar had reached the right shade of amber just by looking at the color of the smoke curling off the pan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years later, after a decade in pastry kitchens that prioritized speed and shelf stability, I found myself longing for that unhurried, imprecise magic. I wanted to make candy that tasted like it was made by someone who cared more about the result than the yield. So I quit my job, cleared out the spare room, and started Sweet Studio with a single copper pot and a handwritten recipe for honeycomb toffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was six years ago. The spare room is now a proper studio kitchen. The copper pot has siblings. But every piece still gets made by hand, one batch at a time, and I still taste more often than I measure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Philosophy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Small-batch isn’t a marketing phrase here. It’s a constraint I chose on purpose. When you make twelve truffles at a time instead of twelve hundred, you notice things. The way the ganache changes texture when you let it rest an extra ten minutes. The difference between pistachios roasted at 300 degrees and pistachios roasted at 325. These details don’t scale, and I don’t want them to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I source ingredients the way a good cook shops \u2014 by relationship, not by catalog. The saffron comes from a family farm in Spain that my former chef introduced me to. The vanilla is Tahitian, split and scraped the morning I use it. The honey is local, wildflower, from a beekeeper I can bike to. It costs more. It takes longer. But you can taste the difference, and that’s the whole point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every piece is wrapped by hand, labeled by hand, and shipped by hand. I know what’s in every box that leaves this studio because I packed it myself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Craft<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Three things I refuse to compromise on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Why I Use Real Vanilla<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Vanillin \u2014 the synthetic substitute \u2014 hits one note. Real Tahitian vanilla has over 250 flavor compounds that unfold slowly on your tongue. I split each pod fresh and steep it into cream the same morning. You’ll never see “natural flavor” on one of my labels because I’d rather you taste the real thing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Saffron Story<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My saffron comes from a single family in La Mancha, Spain, who harvest each crocus by hand in October. It takes 75,000 flowers to produce one pound of saffron. I use it sparingly \u2014 a pinch bloomed in warm cream \u2014 in the Rose Turkish Delight and the seasonal citrus collection. It’s the most expensive ingredient in the studio and the one I’d never cut.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Seasonal Sourcing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I don’t make strawberry candy in January. If the fruit isn’t at its peak, the flavor won’t be either. The menu rotates with what’s available \u2014 lavender in June, blood orange in winter, wild blackberry in late August. It means some flavors only appear once a year. That’s part of the joy. When the Lavender Lemon Drops come back, you know summer is here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Every piece is a small argument that good things are worth waiting for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for being here. Whether you’re ordering for yourself, gifting someone you love, or just curious how a one-person candy studio works \u2014 I’m glad you found this page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Browse the Shop<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Get in Touch<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I make candy the way I wish it tasted as a child. How It Started I grew up in my grandmother’s kitchen, watching her pour caramel into buttered tins and roll truffles between her palms until they were perfectly round. She never measured. She tasted. She knew when the sugar had reached the right shade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinmarsh.vagabond.andreidraganescu.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinmarsh.vagabond.andreidraganescu.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinmarsh.vagabond.andreidraganescu.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinmarsh.vagabond.andreidraganescu.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinmarsh.vagabond.andreidraganescu.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/robinmarsh.vagabond.andreidraganescu.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11,"href":"https:\/\/robinmarsh.vagabond.andreidraganescu.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7\/revisions\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinmarsh.vagabond.andreidraganescu.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}