Patrick Roger is one of those French artisans you can be sure to hear me mention in any conversation about French gastronomy, real chocolate, and sculpture. Well, also when I share the rare things that make me nostalgic for Paris.

I discovered Patrick Roger a few years before leaving Paris for Wellington, at the Salon du Chocolat, an important Parisian event dedicated to cocoa, where the finest artisans showcase their talents through conferences, workshops, and tastings.

patrick roger chocolate sculpture
Image: Patrick Roger/Facebook Page

Since then, Patrick Roger’s chocolates have remained the epitome of chocolate for me. I indulge in chocolate almost daily (and reasonably, it’s so good for our health !), and back in Paris, I used to live right next to a de Neuville chocolate shop, a franchise offering quite good chocolates for everyday enjoyment. Patrick Roger was for special occasions, gifts, and the holiday season.

Now that I’m in NZ, the world of desserts and indulgences has crumbled quite a bit for me and has become very scarce. However, there are constantly squares of Lindt 70% in my pantry, which satisfy my chocolate cravings after meals. Fortunately, they can be found everywhere here.

 

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Patrick Roger and Chocolate

The Yuzu and Verbena ganache half-sphere has remained, for me, a benchmark for comparison with all the chocolates I encounter nowadays. As stated on Patrick Roger’s website, they were (and still are) a “perfect mastery.” The half-spheres, handcrafted of course, have a perfectly glossy appearance and shape. Minimalist yet complex at the same time. They convey the message that you are about to experience greatness, but without any pretension. The shell has an ideal thickness to contain the ganache without overpowering its flavour, and finally… this ganache… I have never experienced such a perfect balance and harmony between the cocoa and the promised flavours; they enhanced each other like never before.

patrick roger chocolate yuzu sphere
Image: Patrick Roger/Online Shop

patrick roger chocolate

It takes an artist to create such a symphony of taste.

And it’s no wonder, Patrick Roger is an artist. And he sculpts.

 

Patrick Roger and Sculpture

When you walk past Patrick Roger’s shop on Boulevard Saint Germain, you can’t help but stop because there’s likely to be an impressive chocolate sculpture displayed in the window.

Patrick Roger was born in 1968. Son of bakers, he began his apprenticeship at the age of 15 with a baker-pastry chef in Châteaudun. At 18, he moved to the capital and started as a commis with the pastry-chocolate maker Pierre Mauduit. In 1997, after ten years in pastry and three in chocolate, he opened his first shop in Sceaux. In 2000, he won the prestigious title of “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” in the chocolatier category. To qualify, he presented a chocolate sculpture called “Harold,” depicting a crouching planter working with cocoa. That same year, he discovered the Coubertin foundry and the opportunity to perpetuate his artistic chocolate work in metal (bronze, aluminium, iron, etc.).

“I have a sensual connection with the material. I am capable of changing the temperature of my hands to touch what no one else can touch…”

Patrick Roger’s chocolate sculpture workshops in the Parisian suburbs measure 11 meters in height and span 400 square meters, out of a total space of 2,200 square meters where his team works.

In an interview with Beaux Arts magazine, Patrick Roger humbly shares:

“Chocolate is a whole philosophy, a state of mind: I realised that I could do anything with it. It’s what pulled me out of the difficult situation I was in. I came from the countryside, from an extremely simple life based on hard work – I always ate very well. Never saw a museum! At least, not until I was 24 or 26 years old. My wealth was built upon knowing nothing. The fact that I didn’t go to school is extraordinary… Not knowing anything is extraordinary! Because you are free. And the first time I exhibited a sculpture, it was placed among works by Giacometti and Brâncuși!”

One day, a customer took him to the Fonderie de Coubertin, a French foundation that complements the professional and cultural education of young workers in manual trades. Transitioning to the bronze stage would allow him to immortalise his work.

“Chocolate has all the constraints in the world! It melts, it can be eaten… And this customer made me realize that I could preserve my work over time.”

 

patrick roger chocolate sculpture
Image: Patrick Roger/Facebook Page

Patrick Roger advocates for great apes

The apes plays a significant role in the chocolate sculptor Patrick Roger’s work.

“Beyond passion, there is a genuine concern to sculpt, exhibit, and defend large species that are endangered. Without nature, there is no life”

That’s why he sculpted various life-sized versions of the orangutan in chocolate, which are displayed in all his shops.

“Chocolate is also good for questioning. Shocking. Disturbing. It’s material for transformation but also for contemplation.”

 

Total inspiration

For me, Patrick Roger is one of those artisans who truly define excellence. What he does is art and exemplifies perfectly the way we consider artisans as stars in France, when they reach the pinnacle of their craft.

Sculpture and chocolate… so many wonders happen when you let your desires run wild. I think I would love to sculpt with chocolate. It would give me a reason to appreciate the temperatures in NZ when I long for the warm sun. I just wonder how I could melt blocks of properly tempered chocolate of sufficient size (I suck at chocolate tempering). And let’s not forget that it costs 90NZD per kilo of Valrhona Caraibe Fèves, for a sculpture that is both exquisite and beautiful. The 2kg bags of Whittaker’s Dark Ghana are priced at 50NZD and could be a good alternative, since I don’t enjoy that chocolate for tasting. Well, I’m considering it.

There are many beautiful chocolate houses in France and Paris, but if you have to try just one, I would tell you to try Patrick Roger. Yes, his chocolates are expensive, but that’s the price of uncompromising craftsmanship, the highest quality, and a representation of the artistry and values of the world’s finest artisans.

 

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Patrick Roger’s links : 

Instragram : @patrick_roger_off

Facebook : @patrickrogerofficiel

Instagram account for his sculptures : @patrick_roger_sculpture

Online shop : www.patrickroger.com

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