Art of Sucre: Spinning Sugar in Akron
Hours of scrolling on Pinterest came in handy for Art of Sucre owner, Emily Harpel. While planning her wedding in 2015, she endlessly searched the site for favor ideas and stumbled on cotton candy. As “Instagramable” opportunities starting arise for any product in cute packaging, she noticed cotton candy left out of the market.
As these ideas started spinning in her head, she solidified her plan to create a cotton candy business on the road trip home from her honeymoon. Thus started her journey with Art of Sucre; Sucre means “sugar” in French. Her brand is built around creativity in her product flavors and packaging. People love the ways she is able to reinvent this nostalgic treat in inventive ways.
Though COVID-19 brought difficulty to her business, this time is where the brand started to flourish on TikTok (@artofsucre). Simple, but aesthetically pleasing videos of Emily spinning cotton candy engaged an even wider audience than she could have ever imagined. The viewers on TikTok are what took the business from being localized to spreading nationally! Emily posted videos 3 times a day during quarantine and started building a community that loved watching her artistic process online. She would try out their suggestions and film the results, regardless of success or failure.
Now she works with a team of 20 people to brainstorm, market, and sell her lovely cotton candy. Emily constantly is searching for new ideas for cotton candy products: in meetings, comments on social media posts, or inspiration in daily life. One of her favorite unique products is glitter bombs. These shimmering pinches of cotton candy transform an ordinary drink into a sparkly and magical treat!
COVID altered Art of Sucre’s typical function of working at events, but gave space to put abundantly more resources into the online store. In this time they also developed the perfect gift; subscription boxes in for 1 time, every 3 months, every 6 months, and annual increments. The boxes include two glitter bombs, a sample pouch with one of the classic flavors, and a piece of merchandise.
As a female business owner, Emily also embraces the saying “be your own sugar daddy” that they use for some of the Art of Sucre merchandise. She hopes to use her platform to build up other female entrepreneurs, give advice from her experiences, and empower other women to pursue their passions.
Emily hopes to grow Art of Sucre by continuing to connect with customers on a personal level and taking them along in her process. She believes that vulnerability and honesty are the keys to fostering a strong community of supporters. Although these past few years have brought many challenges, Emily also noted, “for the first time it feels like the ceiling is going and I’m able to take a breath from the meticulous work. I am able to immerse myself into the news ideas my team is imaging”. Add some sweetness to your life by supporting Art of Sucre!
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