Orfève, the art of exceptional Geneva chocolate
Today, Caroline Buechler and François-Xavier Mousin, co-founders ofOrfèvewho tell us their story. He in production, she in management: their highly complementary profiles and characters have given birth to a company as beautiful as it is good. Having worked in the worlds of wine and watchmaking, the influence of these two worlds can be found in their chocolate factory, with its luxurious, cutting-edge allure. Each bar is designed as a precious object, developed to reveal its full aromatic richness. The nobility of raw materials, the subtlety of aromas and the enhancement of a terroir are the founding values of Orfève.
From luxury watchmaking to chocolate
Caroline and François-Xavier met in the world of luxury watchmaking. After a few years, they decided to leave this environment to set up their own marketing consultancy. The experience was rewarding, but they preferred to focus on the process of creating a finished product. They dream of bringing a project to fruition. After exploring a number of avenues, they turned to the endangered craft of chocolate making, a trade François-Xavier had discovered while working in the wine industry. Their ambition was clear: to make chocolate in Geneva to their exacting standards, starting with the raw bean, and to produce fine, ethical, sustainable and traceable creations.
They learned on the job. With no training available, they set up their first workshop in their home. Two years of trials, research and fine-tuning enabled them to understand the inner workings of an artisanal know-how, where each bean demands its own processing method. In early 2018, their first tablets finally saw the light of day. After this launch phase, they move to build a fully-fledged artisan workshop in Satigny, doing most of the work themselves.
A dialogue with cocoa
“This job is a daily improvisation,” explains François-Xavier. The two protagonists see their work as a three-way discussion with the cocoa. “It’s the cocoa that tells us what it wants to say, and we make sure it’s heard in the best possible way,” they confide. Driven by a quest for the absolute, they put all their energy into an uncompromising product.
Their creative work is a two-man operation. François-Xavier carries out tests, takes charge of production, checks feasibility and looks for technical solutions. Caroline sources the noblest ingredients possible, with a short, transparent chain, to guarantee fair remuneration for producers. Together, they taste, exchange and adjust: a genuine creative dialogue. The recipes take time, sometimes slowed by the search for non-existent tools, but their perseverance has paid off, as Orfève now offers three absolutely exquisite dark chocolate recipes.
Selected partnerships and unwavering ambition
For distribution, Caroline and François-Xavier have chosen to work only with retailers who share their vision of ethics and quality. They don’t resell their cocoa paste, which is too complex to make, to chocolatiers, but collaborate with pastry chefs and cooks. The latter come to taste Caroline and François-Xavier’s products and work with them to come up with new creations. Today, their ambition remains unchanged: to produce exceptional, ethical chocolate in Geneva, which tells the story of its terroir and restores nobility to a forgotten craft. At Orfève, the worlds of watchmaking, oenology and chocolate have merged to produce an extraordinary result.
