Shawn Williams

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As a result, I moved to San Francisco in 2003 to attend pastry school, where I fell in love with chocolate, both confectionary and sculpture, and realized this field is what I was made to do. I love the balance between art and practicality; and although chocolate has a lot of flavor, it is also a blank canvas for artistic expression. I began to learn more about chocolate while working in La Folie and Postrio in San Francisco, and on my days off I experimented with chocolate. In 2005, I began to apprentice under Chef Doug Basegio, who taught me the science behind chocolate and candy making. We not only built showpieces but also worked to balance different aesthetics of chocolate; for example, incorporating a perfect butter-like consistency in a ganache with nuances of crunch.