Cannabis-infused Pop Rocks and birthday cake flavors are just the beginning.
You just have to smile when you blob aSonderproduct . Neon ink makes the playful , patterned packet of vaporizer crude cartridges pop from the shelf , and the silver hydrofoil bags of Space Crystals — the brand ’s infuse twisting onPop Rocks — feature a mouth opening to reveal galactic gems .
The designs are hypnotic , the description are cheeky , and the Space Crystals come in punny savour like Stoned Fruit and Pineapple Party . They ’re just plain fun , which is exactly what founders Faun Chapin and M. Paradise intended when they launch the brand in 2017 .
Chapin grew up in Mendocino County , in the substance of the Emerald Triangle of West Coast cannabis product . She is technically a second - contemporaries marihuana entrepreneur , following in the stride of her cultivator female parent . However , when Chapin thinks back on her puerility storage of the former schooling days , and the lifestyle required of doing thing the old shoal means , “ playfulness ” is not a Holy Scripture that amount to psyche .
Founders Faun Chapin and M. Paradise|Photo courtesy of Sonder
“ When we say ‘ war on drugs , ’ it really was a war . Agents rappelling down from whirlybird with machine gun — it was scary , ” Chapin remembers . “ We had to be deliberate . Every morning , we ’d put on a full body wetsuit and wade up a river to get to my mom ’s grow and water the plants . ”
Back then , the hazard was eminent and so was the reward . Prices for a pound of efflorescence were around $ 5,000 , compared to today ’s average in the effectual market of$1,336 / pound . Chapin ’s female parent was capable to raise her three tyke on her own , get off of wellbeing , and even put Faun through grad schooling at Yale . So while her memories are n’t all warm , bleary visions of a hippy utopia , Chapin has immense respect for all the cleaning lady who laid the foundation for the industry she now occupies .
“ It ’s exasperate to hear citizenry lecture about these ‘ OG agriculturalist ’ as only dudes in the woods — the real OGs were the adult female , ” explain Chapin . “ The women were the gardeners in these hippie communities . The womanhood were the original Emerald Triangle growers , but when the ’ 80s hit , and nation governments start up jeopardise make their children aside , they stopped growing . ”
For these reasons , and others , Chapin was never concerned in turn herself , although her siblings did stop up learning the swop and catch their medical license . She manoeuver off to New York to work in stigmatisation , and met and fell in love with Paradise , with whom she started the conception agencyGuts & Gloryin 2012 . It was n’t till she found herself back in the Bay Area just as California legalized cannabis that Chapin felt the plant calling .
“ We had this growing experience in our connection , my comrade would be able to cater some mathematical product , plus branding expertness , ” Chapin says . “ We also looked around at what was happening in the quad in 2016 , and it was like , ‘ Where ’s the fun ? Where is the creativity and oddity that we all so often experience when we enjoy cannabis ? ’ ”
Chapin and Paradise got to work , declaring a delegation to “ delight and honour the mind and tongue ” with everlasting , potent , and joyful marijuana product .
Space Crystals|Photo courtesy of Sonder
“ We always want to be the Wilhemina Wonkas of weed , ” she says . “ Not the targeting of tiddler , but in the delivery of round-eyed pleasure to adults . We wanted to build something for us , for those who bask leaning into the curiosity of hemp — something for women , and for the queer community of interests . ”
“ If Sonder end up only invoke to the girls , the homophile , and the theys , so be it . ”
Chapin considers the Space Crystal candies a champagne manifestation of that . Take the Cheers Queers flavor — a compounding of strawberries and Champagne-Ardenne , like the taste of a pull brunch — which intentionally launch during the holiday time of year , to cue those with more complicated family tie that they ’ve start a queer family out there , everywhere . alas , even in 2021 , the sentiment was lost on cheeseparing - minded dispensary buyers .
“ Some retailer really misunderstood and found it very off - putting to see the give-and-take ‘ queer ’ on a computer software — they just directly out refuse to carry it , ” she say .
It does n’t bother Chapin too much , though . There are plenty of dispensary out there that want to support queen make , and many hundreds of thousands more customers wait to feel more seen by effectual hemp products on shelves .
Sonder has a retinue of new smack and higher THC dosage on the way — admit Wakin Bacon ( a maple bacon flavour with genuine Francis Bacon bits ) , a birthday bar styled Rainbow Briter , and cinnamon red hot - flavour Spooky Ooky , plus a rhomb - instill , pre - roll line made in customized partnership with musicianQveen Herby . The brand will set in motion in Nevada next month , Michigan in the coming months , and New York next yr . Bigoted dispensary vendee be maledict — it looks like Sonder ’s going to be just fine .
“ If Sonder end up only invoke to the lady friend , the gays , and the theys , so be it , ” Chapin says . “ That ’s what , 70 % of the market place ? Fine with us . ”
