Jackie Sorkin lives in Candy Land. Youll find her workshop somewhere between the Peppermint Forest and the Gumdrop mountains, which IRL is in the Greater Los Angeles Area. In Sorkins candy kingdom, another candy queen provides musical inspiration. Sorkin tells Mashed that Katy Perrys “California Gurls” is the title track to the soundtrack of her life. The two monarchs of sweet have worked together, but well tell you that story later. Since founding Hollywood Candy Girls — recently renamed Candy Kingdom — in 2008, Sorkins team has served up candy creations to an increasing number of A-listers including Oprah Winfrey, the Kardashians, Justin Bieber, and Jessica Simpson. Her website boasts a singular, almost impossibly happy goal: “make this world a sweeter place.”
If youve visited Sorkins Candytopia — an experiential candy wonderland traveling pop-up museum — you know that her motto isnt marketing. All the strain, stress, and anxiety that goes with being a human being? “I just channel that to create outrageous moments of joy and happiness for all,” Sorkin reflects. There is, perhaps, no greater testament to this than Sorkins latest conquest: a life-sized “modern-day gingerbread house, but just all candified.” You can follow the candy queen and her team as they race to finish a 1,000 square-foot dream in Hulus four-episode special, “Candified: Home For The Holidays.” In this interview with Mashed, Sorkin gives us an exclusive behind-the-scenes look into the creation of the candy house, her Willie Wonka-esque workshop, her celebrity clients, and what its really like being the queen of Candy Land.
Jackie Sorkin’s life advice
You are very female-oriented. Your clients are mostly female, youre really about hiring also powerful female figures in your business. Whats it like to be a woman-led business in the confectionary world?
For me, I want us all to win, men and women. My best friends are guys and girls. I think, naturally, my business lends itself more towards maybe that feminine side or that female creativity. Whatever a womans brain has to offer really lends itself to the events and the parties and the candy and the art and the sculptures … I feel like, when I create, its like a fusion of Lisa Frank, rainbows, unicorns, happiness, sparkle, good vibes, color, color, energy, more sparkle, throw some glitter on it, and make it pop. So, I just think, naturally, that many times lends itself to the female brain.
However, Ive got some incredible guy friends. You see my husband and D. Micah on this team, and theyre able to capture the magic, too. But yes. Am I a champion for women? 100%. I have been through so much. Girl, we could sit on the floor and cry in about two minutes if we dive into certain chapters of my life that were really hard to get through. And even one Ive recently just got through. Its just all business related, but you keep going. And I think as women, we are so sensitive and loving. And we are emotional sometimes. I think were super, super smart, capable, and just badasses — the same way I feel about dudes. I kind of think its all of our world, shared together. But I do know that being a champion for women is something Im very, very proud of.
I meet so many women and little girls and big girls. I just always say, “You can absolutely do anything.” It has to come from really within, and youve got to believe it. Youve got to push through many, many hurdles to get to wherever you want to go. For me, I always say, “Keep going, no matter what.” I dont know what the secret is, but I do know if you keep going, you keep getting up and up and up and up, and you push and you push and you push, and things happen. You know, thats the hardest part, is not quitting. The hardest part is taking all the negative and the things that hurt our feelings, and the people that hurt our feelings, and the nos and the rejections and the passes and the “No thank yous,” and “Youre not good enough,” and “I dont want you, youre crazy.”
That is really soul crushing to creatives, men and women. But I think when you have a true fire and ability to plow through those nos — theyre very painful though. Trust me. Theres a lot of pain behind all this wonderfulness. I just channel that to create outrageous moments of joy and happiness for all. I use a lot of my own darkness and pain and I never hide from it. It exists like everyone else. But I channel it differently. And I cry a lot.
An inside look into Jackie Sorkin’s candy workshop
Youve been compared to a modern-day, female Willy Wonka. We all idealize Willy Wonka, right? Whats it really like working with candy every day? Whats one thing we might not expect about your job?
I mean, we just eat so much candy. I tell the team like, “Wow, when we die, our bodies are just going to be full of gummy things.” We eat a lot of it, we are around it every day. Other artists may have a studio full of paint and brushes and whatever their medium is, recycled items, bottle caps, rocks, whatever it is. Candy for us is just, thats our thing. Thats our lane. Thats our space. Its our whole life.
We love piling tons of different candy options on a table when were creating, and in creative mode, and then collectively coming together [in] a meeting of the minds, and then bickering and fighting over what were going to use — and what shape and what color. Whats going to create this portrait or this sculpture to look the best? Candy just is, its our driving force. Its the heart and soul of what we do. And we eat a ton of it every single day.
How much candy do you eat a day?
For me, its just this natural thing. I see it, I eat it. I grab it. Oh, Im in a mood, I need the sweet [and] spicy, the gummy mango, the new one that Im obsessed with right now that just came out. “Oh no. Now Im in a chocolate mood!” I need chocolate. I need it to make me feel better. Im feeling some kind of way.
Its really just, [candy is] like a person to me. Its bigger than just being this [inanimate] thing. Its like, I need it. Its our fuel. Its what we love the most. And, I dont even know how to explain it without knowing that it sounds weird. And I recognize it.
This Life-Size Gingerbread House Is Made of Real Cookies and Candy! | Localish
FAQ
Can you make a house out of candy?
Who invented the gingerbread house?
Is a candy house free?
By Jennifer Egan. Scribner. Nothing is free! Only children expect otherwise, even as myths and fairy tales warn us: Rumpelstiltskin, King Midas, Hansel and Gretel. Never trust a candy house! It was only a matter of time before someone made them pay for what they thought they were getting for free.
Should you trust a candy house?
It was only a matter of time before someone made them pay for what they thought they were getting for free. Never trust a candy house is also the advice of Miranda, who becomes an “eluder,” part of a movement of individuals who install a robotic proxy in their existing digital identity and then vanish into the offline world.
Is technology a candy house?
Technology, specifically the alluring Collective Consciousness, is the candy house of the novel’s title. That also includes art-stealing file-sharing platforms, denounced by Miranda Kline’s twin daughters, who take over their father’s music production company: By Jennifer Egan. Scribner. Nothing is free!
How many pages are in the candy house?
“The Candy House” is a trim 334 pages, but it has a dwarf-star density. Inside, 15 or 20 other novels are trying to climb out. The chapters are short; the tone is aphoristic; the eye for cultural and social detail is Tom Wolfe-like. Jennifer Egan, whose new novel is “The Candy House.” Pieter M. Van Hattem This is minimalist maximalism.