The Japanese bonsai garden by Amaury Guichon. He is the head chef and owner of the Pastry academy.  The piece is made of chocolate and the flowers of Gum paste. I chose this piece because cherry blossoms are my favourite flower and because of my love for Japanese culture. The piece represents the nature and architectural history of Japan.

This piece done by Jurgen Baret is made with chocolate. He described this piece as a future in which sea levels have risen and has become humakind’s habitat of choice. This is represented by a massive mermaid swimming over futuristic-looking, spherical houses. I picked this piece because of the intricate details, it is very well and clearly sculpted.

A “Fire Phoenix” sugar sculpture made by a Taiwanese pulled sugar artist , Ni Yi-leng. I love this piece not just because of the power that the phoenix represents but also because of the story behind this piece. On the way to the venue the piece was mishandled by the airport staff causing damage. When it arrived the artist instead of giving up, found a way to fix the piece and ended up winning first place. It has a sound message that determination can open winning opportunities when you don’t give up.

Piece 1 Akihro Kakimoto 

This is by far my favorite piece. Chef Akihiro Kakimoto won in the 2018 Japanese Chocolate Master competition. Perhaps it’s because it’s because the woman in the center piece is holding a cacao bean and she too is made out of cocoa, but I’m getting the impression that this piece is supposed to signify genesis or a form of it. The flowers on the bottom of her body seem to spring up from her, and she herself is naked but it seems very primordial to me. There’s something sort of futuristic about her body, perhaps it’s the holes in her body or the fact that her body seems to be connected by something. It seems like Kakimoto was trying to depict a sort of robotic genesis out of chocolate. We didn’t necessarily discuss chocolate deeply but I can tell that the petals of the flowers were airbrushed. There is a seamless transition between the purple and green colors creating a hyper realistic look to the flower. The shine is incredible. The muscles seem to be shaved down while the hair area seems to be carved out. The use of height in this sculpture was well executed. The sides of the piece are tall which draws the eyes to the center of the piece where either a heart or another cocoa bean is placed. The right hand of the sculpture holds most of the bright colors of the piece which create an interesting transition from left to right. The left is dark and transitions to the right where the light green color catches the light. I think the colors work with the sculpture because they almost tell a story. The biggest obstacle I see is constructing the whole piece. It’s a large scale piece and the body which is also the base of the structure has holes in it. I wonder if Kakimoto made the structure in pieces and fused it together or if he made it all in one. The bands that seem to hold the woman together gives the impression that it was made in pieces and then placed together. However, it doesn’t look bad. Think the artist created support systems that would make sure the structure stays glued for example the hair, or the woman’s butt. I notice that the chef placed the woman’s butt on a platform that creates height and support for her arms and legs. By triangulating the arms  and legs it makes sure that the top parts have enough support at the bottom. If he hadn’t created bases in the legs, arms, and base, the weight would have not been equally distributed. This piece is an absolute masterpiece. The use of height and color, the attention to detail, the concept, it’s all incredible. The woman in the sculpture is shown surrounded by flowers holding a cocoa bean. I like the story the piece tells. I’m sure everyone would interpret it differently which is fascinating. It is truly a piece of art. I can look at it for hours and find something new. Kakimoto’s attention to detail is remarkable. The hair as well as the arm detailing blows me away. There is something so real about this chocolate structure yet out alien-like and robotic. This is part of the world chocolate masters competition. But honestly, put it in a museum please. 

Piece 2- Chef Stephane Glacier 

This sugar piece was created by chef Stephane Glacier. He is a french pastry chef who is in charge of a pastry school for beginner and professional chefs who want to get into the catering business. He also owns the establishment called Pâtisseries et Gourmandises in Colombes, France. Some of his achievements include obtaining the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France Pastry Chef in 2000 and publishing several books. I’m not exactly sure what the theme is but it seems to be related to spring or summer.This sugar sculpture shows a small bird of some kind perched on top of what seemed to be a bush of flowers or a blossoming tree. The main colors used are bright red, orange and gold. The red is a bright maraschino cherry color, but remains clear while the gold color is faint but opaque. The chef uses a good mixture between delicate transparency mixed with strong opacity. The use of the clear almost water-like pieces add dimension and fill up empty spaces without taking away from the attention of the bird or flowers. I think Glacier does a great job of contrasting the colors and the opacity of the sugar. The red base is strong in color but see through while the center pieces, aka the flowers and the birds are opaque. The use of the clear pieces is great in adding texture to the sculpture but i’m not exactly sure what it represents. Beautiful nonetheless. The shine throughout is remarkable. 

The base of the structure seems to be made of casting sugar and is basically what holds this piece together. It seems to be strong yet delicate. The biggest issue I see is the attachment of the flowers or the clear bubble wrap looking thing. I can definitely see how they could shatter when you are attaching it to the base and some of the flowers seem to be sitting on them which could pose a problem if they are too heavy. This piece is a true work of art. I like the height, your eye naturally gravitates towards the top because the base is larger at the bottom and ends in a peak. The flowers are formed beautifully. The leaves themselves seem to have been made using a stencil, the flowers are formed through sugar pulling. The bird seems to be made by blowing sugar. I like how delicate the bird looks but it for sure would be difficult to create. I’m not exactly sure what the clear things are but they do a great job in filling up space. This is for sure a show piece and can function as a piece of art in a wedding or a big event. It would probably also be found in a competition of some sort. 

Piece 3- by Stephane Treand

Stéphane owned the Pâtisserie Tréand located in, South of France. He was titled “Meilleur Apprenti de France” Best Apprentice in France, and then “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” Best Craftsman in France. He is currently the Executive Chef Consult For Occitanial in Tokyo Japan. The theme of this amenity seems to be a modern rendition of strawberry fields. I’m not sure what this truly represents but there are green circular structures and strawberries. This amenity is made out of blown and poured sugar. The green circular structures are layered on top of one another which would best be achieved by using casting sugar. The strawberries are most likely blown. The leaves in the strawberries were probably pulled sugar. 

I like the use of color in this sculpture. They only used 3 different colors but the two different shades of green nicely compliment each other and create the illusion of shadow while the red brings contrast. Speaking from experience, making sure that the sculpture is structurally sound seems to be a big issue. I can imagine the chef had to make sure that the weight was equally distributed throughout the structure. There is one specific spot on the right hand where a smaller light green circle touches a larger light green circle and the transition is so seamless which is awesome. The colors were well executed in this structure. I liked the use of space, the little circles fill out the empty spaces without making it look cluttered. The structure also gives the illusion that some parts are floating which is super cool. The strawberries look like they are floating or falling gracefully as well. It’s a piece of art, would probably be in a showroom. 

Piece 4 Dean Gibson- 

Dean Gibson is an Australian pastry chef and has worked in the industry for almost 40 years. He has appeared on master chef australia, masters of chocolate, and pastry battlers. The piece is part of a larger scarecrow structure. This is a structure of a crow-like bird. It is completely matte black. Parts of the bird form spikes while other parts form feathers. I think Gibson carved out some of the chocolate like the head area while the tail area he attached and melted other parts onto the piece. The piece is one solid dull black color but I think it works well with the dark theme. There is some shine on some parts of the bird which creates dimension, however; i’m not sure that was intentional. This structure seems to have been put together so over time I imagine that the feathers might come apart. I noticed that the base of the bird’s body was sitting on top of a metal structure and if it got too warm it could potentially melt the chocolate. This piece gives me some serious emo vibes. It’s so dark and dreadful and I love that about it. It’s like looking at a modern depiction of a grim reaper or something. The piece transitions well from left to right. Like some of the other ones, it tells a story. The left of the structure starts off very abstractly then forms into a deteriorating crow form. The feathers are delicate and beautiful and the detailing around the head makes it look like it’s about to burst into ash. This is chocolate piece that would work well in a halloween party.

This chocolate piece represents a pond. The chef that made this chocolate piece is Mathieu Davoine. Cattails and aquatic plants represent the plants that you would find at a pond. The cattails and aquatic plants most liked molded. First tempered white chocolate then added green food coloring. To make cattails they would have to first mold the stem then mold the cattails on top of  the stem so that they can stick together. To make the aquatic plants they would have used different sized molds to shape the plants. Egg Shape and root seem to represent the dirt that is in the pond. Before making the egg shape they would first temper the chocolate then put the chocolate in a mold. For the bottom part they probably scrapped and made it look like it is dirt. The base represents the water, it is probably made with tempered white chocolate and blue food coloring. To make the base they would use a square mold and let set. The colors are used to make each piece stay out on its own. The colors both work for the piece and against. It works with the piece because that’s how ponds usually look like. But they work against because the brown stands out more than the other colors. If there were more plants in the piece then it wouldn’t make the brown stand out as much. The technical problem is most likely trying to put the cattails, aquatic plants and the roots on the egg shaped piece. I like how everything is put together. When looking at the chocolate showpiece, it made me feel as if I was at a pond. I wish there were other plants that you can find at a pond in this showpiece.

This chocolate piece represents Alice in Wonderland. The chef that made this chocolate piece is Seung Yun Lee. The base represents a chess board and it is made by tempering dark chocolate that is placed in a square mold. Once set they painted some areas to make it look like a chess board. The two boys represent Tweedledee and Tweedledum. They are made with tempered dark chocolate that is placed in a mold and is painted on so they look like people. The tree, the barks, and tea pot are made from tempered dark chocolate that is placed in molds to get its shape. The mushroom, roses, tea cup, egg and cards are made from tempered white chocolate and put white food coloring so that the chocolate would be completely white. The egg, card, tea cup, and mushrooms were placed in molds then painted. The colors are used to separate all the pieces. The colors work with the pieces because even though the tree is dark brown because of the other pieces it doesn’t make the tree stand out as much. The technical problem I see if I had to construct this is the tree bark in the back. Especially the ones that are curved. Trying to make all the chocolate pieces stay in the places that they are standing in now. Also trying to make the circle ball stay in between each base piece. I like how creative this chocolate piece is how it looks crazy yet pretty. I wish there were more of Alice in Wonderland characters in the piece.

The sugar piece represents love. The chef that made this sugar piece is Ewald Notter. The two bases on the bottom and the clear/red pieces are made from cast sugar. The hearts are blown sugars. The wishbone and rose are made of pulled sugar. The doves and the tail are either made with blown sugar or pulled sugar.The colors are used to show love. The colors work for the piece because even though the sugar piece is mostly white even with the little bit of red it made the sugar piece stand out. Trying to put everything together because it looks very fragile. What I like about this piece is how it looks simple yet complicated. When looking at the piece it looks easy to make. But when actually trying to make the sugar piece it’ll be very hard and difficult to make.

This sugar piece represents the Spring. The chef that made this sugar piece is Johnny Yan. The base, a couple of leaves, and butterfly are all made from casting sugar. The leaves and flowers are made from pulled sugar and are pressed to get its shape. The vase and the balls are blown sugar. The colors are used to balance each other out. The colors work with the piece because even though the bigger leaves then flowers the two colors make each other balance out.The technical problems that I would face when constructing this piece is trying to put all the flowers and leaves together. What I like about the piece is how it looks very beautiful and refreshing. I like this piece because when I look at the sugar piece it reminds me of the outside world. I love how the color flowers and butterfly are.

This theme of this showpiece is called Cyber Woman and created by Peter Gyorgyicsek. The main component of this showpiece is chocolate; the creator used 54.5%, 67% and 72% chocolate to create this piece.  The techniques used were air brushing, cocoa butter spray, casting, molded, robot coupe and hand sculptured chocolate. The torso of the woman has been sculptured well and in detail. The Chocolate feelers from her back and hair are detailed and colored well to go with her figure. Her assembling of her insides as well as the outside has been done with care. She is well put together. The color of the chocolate and the colors used work well with the theme of the piece and complement each other. There is no sugar used I think as per what I can see in the picture. The surviving temperature of this showpiece is 68°F. If I was constructing this piece the intricate detailing of the work would take me very long to master as well as the correct airbrush colors. I loved the whole look of the piece the attention to detail of the woman as well as the gears and the feelers and the machine effect of the inside of her body. Pastry Chef Peter Gyorgyicsek is a Hungarian pastry chef and has his showpieces featured in various shows. He earned a gold medal at the IKA Culinary Olympics for a stunning sugar showpiece. The Chocolate Cyber Women piece took him 2 months to complete and another 4 hours constructing the showpiece, and earned him gold at the Culinaire Malaysia 2015.

The theme of this showpiece is a Koi Pond. The main component of this showpiece is made of sugar. The piece looks liked stained glass, it is amazing how the creator was able to make the background look like clear water; it was this particular feature that attracted me to this piece. The koi are sculpted wonderfully, on looking closely to the piece the fins of the white koi are beautifully shaded and detailed. The piece was made with isomalt sugar, poured and pulled sugar. The fish are made with blowing sugar and the piece sits on a thick cardboard base. The seaweed and plant is hand pulled sugar. The piece has a beautiful combination of colors, especially the green, brown, greenish gold; I think the base could have been a different color, but it is still eye catching. Constructing a piece like this, blowing sugar to make the fish could be a problem for me, but if I did I would consider trying to change the color of the base to a blue. There is not much mentioned on the chef who created this piece just his name The-Evil-Plankton.

The theme of this showpiece is a scene from the movie Avatar. The Blue Navi figure I think would be made of molding chocolate or cast sugar holding a bow and arrow which looks like pulled sugar on top of beautifully bluish green round shape made from isomalt which is placed on top of a figure representing the tree of souls made with pulled sugar the colors used have a soothing, purple-hued glow. The bright yellowish orange red flower brings a bust of extra bright glow color to the pieces. The technical problems I would come across I think would be the shape of the bow and arrow and pulling the perfect shape for the torso of the navi. I find the pieces beautiful. It’s like a journey through the world of Pandora.

The showpiece is a chocolate dragon made by Chef Amaury Guichon. The piece is completely made by milk and dark chocolate and the chef uses various techniques, textures, molds, tools and tricks to make the showpieces. The video I saw shows how he builds the piece from the base up to the dragon. The chef used air brush colors to distinguish the various pieces on the structure. He has used limited colors like red for the dragon, black and gold for the main structure and black and white nibs mixed with silver color to make a marble base. I would love to construct a piece like this and with practice I am sure would one day be able to do so. Chef Amaury is a world-renowned pastry chef. He reached executive chef level at the age of 21 at Hugo and Victor in Paris, France. He has constructed various beautiful and detailed structures. He opened a Pastry Academy in Las Vegas, NV.

This beautiful center piece is made out of pure chocolate, I chose this piece because I really loved how it had a large flower in the center painted with a lot of detail in gold. The way that it is designed really brings you eyes to the flower so you could get a good look at its intricate design. The center piece also consists of chocolate that is in many shapes and sizes, and the petals at the edge of the flower have a nice curve, along with other parts of the center piece. This was made by a chocolate artist named Robin Robins

I think that this one maybe my favorite, it was designed by Peter Gyorgyicsek and it has a nice theme and idea that really help it. First it has a very intricate design that consist of many colors and shapes, giving it a really intricate design. The theme is time line and it shows the life of a plant. It shoes the theme of time well by creating gears on the middle to the left to illustrate a clock.The bottom is a tree trunk then further up a flower and up on top a pulled sugar tree. I love the design and the thought and story that goes behind it.

This is a center piece of isomalt this one stands out to me because of how it has these long jagged spikes coming out of the flower, and how the flower is placed stands out to me too, with it on the edge with very detailed petals that seem very fragile and with a nice crumpled effect . The butterfly also looks great with the bright blue color and long antennas on it giving it a elegant design. At the bottom you see the fruit made of pulled sugar, I personally like the bright saturated colors of the fruit and its simple design.

I know that this is simple but the symmetry was really appealing to me. I thought that by having the 3 long pieces of casting sugar holding up the circle in the air was creative and the colors complemented each other nicely. I appreciate the 3D effect and the long base and how it transitions to a long slim design then splits apart and expands.

This showpiece is made of all chocolate with some parts being spray painted to add more color. I chose this piece because when scrolling through google images it was of the first ones that caught my eye. It is an abstract piece and has a lot of movement which I think is very important when creating a centerpiece for an event. The smooth flow of the shape doesn’t bring your eye away from the bottom of the piece but it helps bring it towards it. Having the brightest color flower dead in the middle of the piece also helps keep your focus on the main part of the piece. There aren’t a lot of colors in it to begin with but they all relate because the yellow, brown, and green on the flowers moving up the piece are somewhere in the biggest flower. This piece looks like it would be displayed at a fancy or elegant event because of how sleek and simple it is. I could not find the artist of this piece.

This piece is made from casting sugar and has an ocean life theme. I like how they used minimal colors so it doesn’t look too busy and the color they used for the sea animals is very vibrant. The way the green-clear color moves tells a story to me. At the top, you have the swordfish swimming with the motion of the waves, it doesn’t look like something that can’t move but at any moment will swim away. The seashell is resting on the ocean floor being moved by the water. And finally, the seahorse, which is not standing straight and tall but is at a slight angle. The darker colored bubbles are different sizes which give the illusion of the air bubbles you see in the ocean on every tv show and cartoon, which also helps with the movement of the piece. This piece is made at The Pastry School by Stephane Treand. This is my favorite piece.

This amenity is made of pulled sugar, I like it because it is very bright and eye-catching. The first part of this piece I noticed was the three flowers in the middle because of the negative space behind them created by the circle. After that, I start to get a little lost because the piece is kind of busy. Each element of the piece separately is beautiful but I think being assembled the way it was is a little too much for the eye to process. I understand the top part of the piece, which looks like a small bouquet of flowers and the clear parts are the leaves with some ribbon. The bottom confuses me a little though because it looks like an envelope with hearts and some stones. I can’t tell what the light pink-white colored part is. I feel like this may have been a  Valentine’s Day piece because it’s pink and looks to be about love but I’m not too sure. I couldn’t find the artist. This is probably my least favorite out of the four I chose.

This piece is made of chocolate and although it is a little busy, it is clear what it is. This piece is inspired by time and has a few representations of that, the clock, and the hourglass. In my opinion the clock and flowers look like the artist spent a lot of time and concentration on but the hourglass isn’t as refined. I know they dipped balloons in chocolate to get that shape but it looks like it could have been done a little neater. If you look closely, you can see there are small chunks of chocolate so the finished piece is not 100% smooth. I think this piece would have looked fine without the hourglass because the complexity of the two is different. The artist is Olivier Saintemarie.

This piece was also made by Stephane Treand. I like how the color is ombre and its not one solid color. I feel like if it was just one color it wouldn’t be as eye-catching as it is now. At the very top there is one darker piece of sugar which helps bring the whole piece back together since that is the same color as the bottom half of this. I think it also helps with the contrast and to keep your eye from getting lost. If it was only a bright and transparent color it could get lost if it was sitting next to a white wall. I also like how the bottom of the violin was pieced together like a puzzle instead of just one piece. That makes people look at it more because you try and find that perfect angle that makes it look like it is one full piece opposed to it just being plain and simple. It is not too complicated but not too simple either. Finally the base, I’m sure this was intentional but having the base be the same color as the piece itself makes it look like its getting lost towards the bottom. It doesn’t take away from the piece that much and it was the last thing I noticed so I wouldn’t say it’s a big negative.

This is created by Ewald Notter. I believe the corn and pumpkin are made out of modeling chocolate. I think the yellow is very bright which helps people notice it and the ring of chocolate helps keep your eye on the piece. When sculptures have lines that move around your eye will continue to subconsciously follow that line even if it is going away from the piece. So having this circle keeps your eye in the piece. The direction of the corn brings your eye to the circle, going around to the top pumpkin, continuing on the circle, and bringing it back to the corn. I think it is very simple in the components of the piece but the detail of each is very nice.

This piece is made of chocolate and I think the colors really help it stand out. That white at the top is so clean and pure that it makes the other colors that much better. I like the geometric shapes of the base on the very bottom and what looks like bonbons to me on the “shelves” of this piece. The flower has a lot of detail in each petal and the spikes coming out serve as its own personal background. I like how this artist also incorporated the color of the flowers in the bonbons. The fact that this piece is not straight and dead-on also helps with the nice look. Not everything is going in the same direction so it doesn’t look stiff, even though most of the lines are straight. Overall I think this piece was very well put together.

Here are a few sugar and chocolate show and center pieces that stood up to me

This amenity a piece work with chocolate only, inspired by a winter wonderland and Christmas, even though is a extremely simple piece, is really effective in terms of design and theme, the tree up top doesn’t have much 3d dimension, as for the flowers/ribbons. are really good in the layering, and the angels between the train and the sleigh

I decided to include this piece because of the many techniques shown in it, blow the blownm sugar bubbles, to the cast sugar for the based, the pull sugar flowers, the frog itself is a beautiful piece seems to be made out of sugar as well as the bee, the detail in the bee’s wings is stunning and the ribbons in different sizes just give another layer of technique and color

this piece was one of the first ones i found when i was researching at amenities, even though is a quite simple piece i like the nest/ flowers beacause they look really intricate, even the center bud which seems to be only one piece, and the difference in shades of browns give a contrast in the color palete which stands out, i also appriciate the large wavy dark pieces because they are clearly fragile gives it more height and delicacy.

This amenity is supposed to represent easte, i like the attention to detail in the small parts of the piece, as well as the sculpting on the tree, this amenity is a chocolate piece, the bird remind a little bit of a pheonix because of the colors, is a warm piece the shades of browns, yellows and orange complement each other beautiful, the one detail that this piece looked intersting to me, and i wonder if the used a mold or hand sculpt it is the big structure egg shape, surrounding the egg. This piece actually won the 2nd place a couple years ago in the Callibut competition

I decided to focus on this pull and pour sugar piece since remind me of spring, after working with hot sugar this semester i have an admiration for sugar work, the different shapes and techniques in this piece bring an astonishing vibrancy, and the ladybug which seems to be made from sugar as well is beautiful, and it seems to be done piece by piece before putting together, the bottom piece however seems to be cake or chocolate since it doesn’t have the shine that sugar does, the flower it self seems to pull sugar one by one which makes it more impressive at least to me