" ... Die gefährlichen Materialkonglomerate aus Schokolade, Draht und Glas von Warren Laine-Naida, die sich widerspenstig dem Betrachter entgegenstellen und sich jeder sinnlich oralen Wahrnehmung verwehren, zeigen die andere Seite der süssen Schokolade. ..."
Dr. Constanze Küsel Schokolade in der Kunst Eine kunst-geschichtliche Materialprüfung Frankfurt Univ Press 2010

" ... It is an internal dialogue which develops in discussion with the sculptures (of Laine-Naida), and closer contact with the material does not remain purely intellectual, but grasps the levels of emotion and works in relation to self experience. ..."
Dr. Isabelle Schwarz Kunst in Schokolade (forward) Aschenbeck Media 2009

"Warren Laine-Naida ist seit Jahren einer der bekanntesten Schokoladenkünstler ..." Arne Homborg theobroma-cacao.de

Warren Laine-Naida wurde in England geboren und wuchs in Kanada auf. Er studierte Marketing und englische Literatur und ist zertifizierter Chefkoch. Er hat 20 Jahre in der Lebensmittelindustrie gearbeitet und 15 Jahre im Marketing und Kommunikation. Seit 1993 lebt er in Deutschland und kreiert Schokoladenskulpturen, die aus seiner Leidenschaft zur Feingebäckkunst entsprungen sind.

Der stilistische Ursprung für Warren's Poesie ist der Gedanke an Geburt. Für Warren Laine steht sie im Zentrum tausender Bedeutungen und beinhaltet ideale Vorraussetzungen, um gesetzte Vorstellungen und feste Konzepte aufzubrechen: "Der Betrachter kennt Schokolade, ist aber angehalten, eine Skulptur in Schokolade zu akzeptieren und ihr eine neue Bedeutung zu geben. Sie ist Ausdruck von verlorenen Worten und Ansichten, von Unerklärlichem und Doppeldeutigkeit." Angelehnt an diese Vorstellung stehen der Genuss und die Munterkeit, die Schokolade in die dunkle Menschheitsgeschichte gebracht hat, jenseits von Klischeevorstellungen über Gourmetküche. Sie spielt mit den feinen Sinnen wie ein kunstvoller Flirt und beunruhigender Genuss. Schokolade ist ein vielseitiges künstlerisches Medium und Kulturgut. Warren Laine beschreibt die Verformbarkeit von Schokolade durch natürliche Gewalten wie Feuer, Luftfeuchtigkeit, Schimmel, Erdbeben und Zeit sowie Industrie- und Modetrends. Für Laine kann sie Ausdruck gefesselter Frömmigkeit und Mutterschaft, von vorstädtischer Qual zersprengt mit Glasscherben, beschmutzt mit Abfall, Wachs oder Stacheldraht sein. Aber jetzt steht Schokolade für den glamourösen Himmel der Massenproduktion.

Warren Laine-Naida was born in England and grew up in Canada. He studied marketing, english literature and received his chef's papers. He has worked 20 years in food and 10 years in marketing & communication. He has lived in Germany since 1993 where he developed his chocolate sculptures as an extension of his pastry work.

The notion of birth is the stylistic drive to Warren Laine-Naida's poetics. For him it is, first of all, a core of a thousand faces and an ideal receptacle for experiencing the rupture of meanings: "The audience accepts chocolate and is asked to accept a sculpture in chocolate. To accept a new signified using the old signifier. It is an expression of the inexplicable, of the double meaning." By this phantasm stands the delight, the playfulness that chocolate has brought to the underground history of human kind, beyond luxury cuisine stereotypes. When it plays with gourmand senses, there is the aesthetic flirt and unsettling pleasure. Chocolate is a versatile artistic medium and a cultural icon, but Laine saw it making flesh under natural demiurges like fire, humidity, mould, seism, time - as well as industrial and fashion trends. It expressed caved-in figures of piety and motherhood, then suburban distress blown with shattered glass, tainted with toxic waste, wax or barbed wire. Now it expresses the glamorous heaven of commodities production.

Warren Laine-Naida: The Alchemy of Chocolate and Story

In the world of contemporary art, the medium often defines the message. For Canadian-born artist, author, and educator Warren Laine-Naida, that medium is as unexpected as it is evocative: chocolate. Over the past three decades, Laine-Naida has transformed this universally loved ingredient into a sculptural language-one that invites viewers to question the nature of art, time, and taste.

From Culinary Craft to Conceptual Sculpture

Laine-Naida began his professional life as a chef in the early 1990s, exploring the boundaries between culinary presentation and artistic expression. His first chocolate sculptures emerged around 1993, marking the start of an evolving practice that would see over 350 digital and physical projects, hundreds of workshops, and an ongoing conversation between craft and concept.

Where most see chocolate as a treat, Laine-Naida sees duality: edible yet perishable, familiar yet strange when reshaped into abstract or symbolic forms. This "double meaning" is central to his work. By combining chocolate with materials such as glass, wax, wire, or even barbed wire, he adds tension and narrative, challenging the viewer to reconcile the sensuality of food with the harshness of human experience.

Art in Chocolate: A Book, a Feast, a Story

His landmark 2009 art book, Art in Chocolate, distills this philosophy into a sensory experience that transcends the page. Each full-page photograph of a chocolate sculpture is paired with a short seasonal story and an original recipe-bridging the gap between gallery and kitchen. The book's multilingual editions (English, German, Russian, Spanish, French, and Japanese) mirror the universal appeal of its subject matter.

The sculptures themselves are often photographed in natural settings-snow-blanketed fields, sunlit gardens-allowing the environment to participate in the work. The interplay of light, texture, and inevitable decay becomes part of the piece, emphasizing chocolate's impermanence and echoing themes of transformation and mortality.

Writing as an Extension of the Art

Laine-Naida's writing career stretches beyond the chocolate medium. A prolific author, he has published novels, digital strategy guides, and educational texts. His narrative voice-wry, reflective, and deeply human-echoes the storytelling found in Art in Chocolate.

In fiction, novels like The University Club and Not Now, Katrin explore personal histories and cultural intersections with the same layered attention he gives to his sculptures. In nonfiction, books such as Digital Thinking and SEO: All You Need to Know reveal his parallel career as a digital strategist and educator, offering practical tools with a human-centered approach.

While the subjects vary-from chocolate to code-the connective tissue is his storytelling instinct. Whether sculpting with cocoa butter or structuring a sentence, Laine-Naida seeks to create work that is both intellectually engaging and sensory rich.

A Multidisciplinary Legacy

Beyond the studio and the page, Laine-Naida is a teacher. He has led workshops on topics ranging from WordPress development to AI-assisted marketing, always approaching technology with the same creative curiosity he brings to art. In this way, his career embodies the idea that art and education are both acts of sharing-inviting others to see the world differently.

Chocolate as a Mirror

Ultimately, Laine-Naida's chocolate sculptures are more than whimsical confections. They are mirrors reflecting our relationships with beauty, consumption, and impermanence. The recipes and stories in Art in Chocolate invite us not just to look, but to taste, to read, and to imagine. It is in this layered engagement-visual, tactile, narrative-that his art truly comes alive.