$315,000 Wedding Cake: Black Swan Bakery

Hold the presses.  Here I was, all eager to write a post about the delicious pumpkin chocolate chip bread I baked over the weekend with photos and my recipe to start off my Monday.  My idea and intention has just been interrupted and derailed by a story I just read about a bakery in Beijing called Black Swan Luxury （黑天鹅蛋糕） that sells a wedding cake for $315,000 USD.  My chocolate chip pumpkin bread can wait for later this week.  Doing some basic calculations here, let’s estimate you have a 300 person wedding, that means you would have paid approximately $1,050 per slice of wedding cake.  Last time I checked, wedding cakes ranged in the $7-$15 per slice category for something half decent.  The cake in question from Black Swan Luxury is 70-80 times the price.  Yikes! I wonder how many of these cakes they are selling.  I guess it doesn’t really matter because if they sell more than one, it has generated some significant revenue for the company.

Where did I come by this outrageously priced wedding cake, you ask?  I am a regular reader of the Business of Fashion, a site that specializes in curating a collection of business news articles and interviews about the fashion and luxury goods industries around the world.  Having lived in China and having written my thesis on the Asia luxury goods industry, when I saw the article titled “Chinese are up to speed with life in the fast lane,” published by the LA Times, it caught my attention and I decided to give it a read.  Did I know that one paragraph three quarters of the way down the page would have me nearly falling out of my seat.  Black Swan Luxury is part of the bakery group, Holiland 好利来. Ironically, Holiland’s website, translated in English, means buy cake (买蛋糕)- smart if you are asking people to spend a small fortune for a cake that typically doesn’t even get cut.

While the cake is not my taste, I’m sure Black Swan Luxury will have some eager brides and grooms clamouring for a slice of luxury.  I even found a YouTube video filmed by a customer who shows you a clip of the cake in the window and the wedding consultation area on the second floor.  Happy Monday!

via Rich Times

via Friend Feed

artist: hong hao

When I left China the end of 2007, I could not help but notice the growing contemporary art scene.  Beijing’s 798 and Shanghai’s Moganshan Lu offer a glimpse into China’s art scene as both districts are made up of studios and galleries with dedicated art space for artists.

Hong Hao is a Beijing born artist who graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and has made a name for himself in the China contemporary art scene. He is a conceptual photographer known for his series called “My Things,”(below) where he used everyday objects that he (obsessively?) collected to depict life through art.  The objects are shown in life-size gathered through the artists life.  His work provides a glimpse into consumer culture in China into his laser scanned pictures.  I think his pieces are fantastic and love the repetition of pattern and the colour that each object brings to the shot.  For more info on contemporary art in China, Art Scene Beijing is a decent site to start with as well as ArtZine China.

via grayluckett.com

via chngyaohong.com

via fabrik magazine

via lost at e minor

Heaven on a Plate

This is my hevean on a plate.  I tasted it while I stopped for a rest at Beijing’s Opposite House hotel Village Cafe. This dessert is their pavlova with fresh strawberries, passion fruit and home made vanilla bean ice cream.  The dessert’s stunning presentation made the dessert taste even better.

Green T. House Beijing

I just wrote a post on my fav blog and furniture store, Brocade Home and wanted to provide a visual application of the Brocade Home style in a tea house in Beijing 北京.   Green T. House was featured for its use brocade design on the Brocade Home blog a while back but in case you did not see it, here is my take on the design.

Green T. House, created by master chef, artist, calligrapher, musician and owner Zhang Jinjie, is an excellent example of mixing the romantic damask/brocade style with a modern twist.  The zen like modern space she has created would tempt the likes of any international jet setter or local Beijing fashionista/design buff to visit the restaurant/tea house for an afternoon or evening of food and tea.  The aesthetic of Green T. House actually reminds me of MoRoCo’s style in Toronto, however Green T. House is more minimalist and MoRoCo more goth glam. 

Green T. House is such a stunning place, I could not not imagine all the great events that will be hosted in the space for years to come.

Green T House info in Beijing:

318 Cuigezhuang Xiang Hegezhuang Cun, Chaoyang District ,
Chaoyang
北京朝阳区崔各庄乡何各庄村318号

136-0113-7132

Exterior (photo via aerislifestyle)

(photo via momist.com)

(photo via City Weekend)

The Emperor Hotel Beijing

I have an infatuation with boutique hotels.  I think I secretly want to build hotels.  From Ian Schrager to anything featured on designhotels.com, small leading hotels and tablethotels.com – I am inspired by every single building and would like to visit them all to experience their unique architecture and local touches.

Look at this hotel that was built in Beijing last year I believe.  So futuristic, colourful and comic book like.  The Emperor Hotel is part of Design Hotels and the next time I get back to Beijing, I will check it out first hand. 

(vis asia chic hotels)

(via asia chic hotels)

(via gentlemansgadgets.com)

via sinohotel.com

Fendi on the Great Wall

I spent five years traveling back and forth between Toronto and China and I am sorry to say, I was not in the country when this event took place in Beijing for the Fendi Fall Winter 2007/2008 collection.

It doesn’t get much cooler than having a fashion show on the Great Wall of China itself.

Is that a venue or what?

Fendi Fashion Show (via iwantigot)

Fendi Fashion Show Night (via design boom)