About Us

Hi! 😊

My name is Elena - I grew up in a land far away in a place called Kamchatka. Land of fire and ice, bubbling hot springs, pristine rivers full of wild salmon, land volcanoes and cold, severe winters. Long winters, I mean it. 7 months of snow, spring in the blink of an eye. Quick introduction into summer, autumn and voila winter again.
I now live in Auckland with my family and don’t miss snow at all. We have called beautiful New Zealand home since 2016. New Zealand has become one love: people, nature, food, sun and blue skies. I thought “Finally, I’ve found a great place to be”.

My journey with chocolate started in 2022 while searching for a healthy recipe. Perhaps like many other people out there, I’m concerned about sweet treats consumption and always check the ingredients when I do my shopping. So long story short. The recipe was a blast, the outcome was bliss! It was a throwback to my childhood, the taste of the bonbons was just as my grandma used to send us from a small Ukrainian town. Once upon a time, there was a small chocolate shop called The Golden Key. The place we didn’t hesitate to go to whenever visiting Grandma. I can tell you that those are the sweetest memories of my life. I still can feel that incredibly delicious aroma coming out of that store. No doubt, I decided I should give it a go and keep creating.
So as I said in a previous post about myself, I decided to start a wholehearted journey of making chocolate bonbons. Natural, organic food has always been a thing in my family and still is. The process of selecting ingredients, knowing where they are from, making sure no nasties are in and just following the process of creating deliciousness is always rewarding. These are basically my values to bring joy & quality and satisfy your taste buds).

One of my favourite movies is Chocolat. Wonderful story, I was stunned, and I’m still stunned by how Juliette Binoche's character perceives customers’ desires and creates the chocolate that brings joy, opens people's hearts and satisfies them. That is what all artisan crafters out there do. That is my approach too! I’m here to bring what Purple Peony symbolises.