The day after shooting a wedding in Nashville, I headed over to Marathon Village to do a quick shoot with Sarah at Bang Candy Company. The Marathon Village building that now houses multiple shops was once the home of Marathon Motor Works, where cars were manufactured back in the 1900’s. Now, it’s home to a variety of retail shops, artists, and event spaces. The Bang Candy Company sign catches your attention immediately – who wouldn’t love a place full of candy AND a logo made up of crossed six-shooter pistols (a motif the multi-talented owner Sarah had once handpainted onto a silk scarf)?.jpg)
The Bang Candy Company branding is known for bold typography, vibrant colors, and cheeky verbiage, and the store is a continuation of that branding, but it also celebrates the patina of the old building the store resides in. The aged brick walls are adorned some of Sarah’s brightly painted silk scarves, as well as artwork created in the same vein as retro music posters. Thousands of white globe bulbs and twinkle lights run along the ceiling, and the apparel offerings include a t-shirt featuring a clever quip about marshmallows and happiness (same same 🙂 ).
The store began with several flavors of handmade small batch marshmallows, but soon included other types of candy such as caramels and honeycomb toffee. A line of colorful simple syrups followed, with featuring interesting flavor combinations such as spiced smoked orange, peach basil nectar, and lavender mint – perfect for a homemade soda or to mix into a cocktail. After I mentioned the syrups to my friends at The Spotted Trotter in Atlanta, they started carrying them at their Kirkwood store!
Back in the kitchen, windows frame the area to allow customers to watch the candy making process. On the day of our shoot, they were making caramels and toasted almond coconut marshmallows. Bottles of natural extracts lined a shelf, while an industrial mixer whipped a steaming batch of syrup into fluffy marshmallow. There are no giant commercial stoves here though, just a small gas range like you might find in your own home – proof that these artisanal candies are made one small batch at a time.
