ABOUT USour history

I was born in Glenelg, South Australia — a seaside town of sunlight and breeze — and grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir, where the hum of life and the scent of home-cooked meals shaped my earliest dreams.

By fourteen, I knew exactly what I wanted to be: a chef. While my friends chased sports or music, I found joy in the rhythm of a whisk, the quiet patience of dough rising, the alchemy of ingredients transforming into something beautiful. For my fifteenth birthday, my mum gave me a food processor — the newest marvel in kitchen technology — and I was certain the universe had handed me my future.

In the Home Economics kitchen at Rosanna East High, I found my sanctuary. While others lingered in hallways during recess, I slipped into that kitchen to bake. Cakes, pastries, small experiments — offerings that made their way to the teachers’ lounge. I still remember the day I saw a photograph in The New International Confectioner: a chocolate lattice cake, intricate and impossibly elegant. I decided to make it. I did — and I shared it. That creation became the first whisper of who I was meant to be and my first act of edible art — the earliest moment where flavor met artistry.

The path wasn’t easy. Apprenticeships didn’t come quickly, doors closed, and I found myself chasing opportunity through school, kitchens, and continents. I studied, worked, and learned wherever I could — from the hospital diet kitchen where I served patients their carefully measured meals, to the bustling hotel kitchens where I learned the art and discipline of professional cooking.

At last, in my early twenties, I found my way to the William Angliss Culinary Institute. Those three years shaped me — the art, the business, the precision, the creativity. I was drawn again and again to desserts, where patience meets passion, and where every detail matters. I learned that chocolate, especially, has a language all its own — delicate, demanding, and full of emotion.

After years of kitchens and competitions, life took me on new adventures — to America, to higher education, to marriage and family, to a career in healthcare consulting. I found joy in helping others succeed, yet the quiet call of the kitchen never faded. It lived inside me, waiting for its cue to return to the stage.

And one day, it did.

As retirement approached, I knew I couldn’t simply stop — I had to create. I remembered the early thrill of working with chocolate — its sheen, its fragrance, its perfect balance of science and soul. Chocolate is art that you can taste, and it rewards those who give it respect.

I returned to study at The Chicago Chocolate Academy, then with Ecole Chocolat, refining my craft and rediscovering that deep joy of creation. In 2025, The Chocolate Ensemble was born — a celebration of my two great loves: chocolate and music.

For five years now, I’ve been learning to play the cello. Though I am still a beginner, I’ve come to see the beauty in how music and chocolate share a rhythm. Both demand patience. Both reward devotion. Both speak to something deeper than words.

At The Chocolate Ensemble, every piece I make is a duet — between artistry and flavor, between structure and soul. Each chocolate is designed to look as exquisite as it tastes — because beauty should never come at the expense of taste, and taste should never come without beauty.

My life has come full circle. From a boy in a school kitchen with a borrowed oven, to a man who found his medium in chocolate — every step has brought me here. And now, with heart, hands, and harmony, I begin again.

The Chocolate Ensemble — where passion melts into art, and every note is made of chocolate.

“Every piece a melody. Every flavor a memory. Where flavor meets artistry.”