Jackie Sorkin captures an extravagant, joyful experience on Candified, interview

During the holiday season, everything seems amplified. In the new Hulu show Candified: Home for the Holidays, Jackie Sorkin not only transforms a holiday house into a sugar-coated candy fantasy but celebrates the pure joy that the holiday season exemplifies. While Sorkin might be the Candy Queen, that crown is more than just a title. After a recent conversation with confectionery consort, it is clear that no one is going to push her off her throne.

While picturesque plates can showcase the mastery of a chef, not all food art is limited to the table. Sometimes that favorite candy serves as the palate for something bigger than just satisfying another craving.

For Jackie Sorkin, her artistic tools are not the traditional paint or clay. Rainbow colored gummies, vibrant sugar candies and mountains of sprinkles fill her canvas. While the phrase dream bigger might be overused, that limitless concept seems to guide many of her projects.

In the new Hulu show, Candified: Home for the Holidays, Sorkin and her team take on the immense task of creating a literal, “home sweet home.” From a kitchen sink that dispenses chocolate milk to a candy chandelier, each and every surface has been covered in candy.

While some people dream of a winter wonderland during the holidays, this fantasy food art will have people feeling as if the Willy Wonka world has jumped off the page and into real life.

What sentiment does Jackie Sorkin hope to capture in her food art?

While few people might envision the sweet fantasy world creations like Sorkin, the reality is that each creation is not just about pushing the artistic endeavor forward. During a recent conversation with Sorkin, she shared that her goal is “to create experiences.” While there is an importance to being valued, she wants people to “feel good and be happy” when they step into her sugar fantasy world.

That sentiment is at the heart of the Hulu show Candified: Home for the Holidays. While the food art display may not necessarily be popping up on every street corner, the pure joy of watching the kids explore the fantasy world that Sorkin and her team created captures her intent.

Sorkin shared that she has always wanted to use her creativity to celebrate joy and happiness. While she believes that she might have been “born with a fun, happy personality,” she wanted to manifest those feelings and that energy into a world where sugar dreams can come true.

Although this candy coated world is pure fantasy, Sorkin believes that she has opened the doors to a “world where everyone belongs.” While there is plenty of “quirky, whimsy and fun,” that world allows everyone and anyone to “make it whatever you want.” Still, even though people might want to eat the candy off the walls like a real life Hansel and Gretel moment, there are a few limits to the immersive experience.

From sights to sounds, Sorkin admits that her “Candified World” might be sensory overload, but there is another element to that experience. In some ways, she wants to offer people a moment of escapism.

Recalling her childhood when she would like to sit in a corner and create, her candy-filled experiences are like that little enclave but in a grander scale. Instead of a Cabbage Patch Kid on a table, now it is a larger than life Polar Bear standing in a kitchen.

As Sorkin and her team continue to push the boundaries of food and candy art, the goal might not necessarily be how did they do that. The real measure of her success is the gigantic smile of pure delight, the memory etched into the mind and the reminder that anything is possible when the imagination is allowed to dream.

Candified: Home for the Holidays can be streamed on Hulu now.

Jackie Sorkin, aka the Candy Queen, is the founder and co-creator of Candy Kingdom and has been part of numerous food television shows.