It's a great honour I'm proud of
and more importantly it's an award for the pastry chef profession
and I dedicate it to all the pastry chefs in the world
In fact there are many great pastry chefs in the restaurant world and in the pastry boutique world
therefore this award honours both these worlds
I've read many things about me in the media
it probably means that my work is deeply linked with creativity
and good taste, uniquely good taste
When I enter a new market and I open a new boutique, I want to share the world of taste, sensation and pleasure
The Pierre Herme maison is present in 12 countries in the world
Japan... well mainly Asian continent and Middle East, at the moment I have no plans to open in the US
It's true, I've seen so many young pastry chefs who are so creative, in the hotels and new boutiques opening
It's incredible, I have never seen as much activity in this profession as in the last five years
I had the chance to be taught by Gaston Lenôtre, when I started as pastry chef
and I want to dedicate the award to him.
What I learnt is that our profession is about sharing knowledge and can only develop that way
Therefore my duty as a pastry chef is to share technique and ingredient knowledge with our young apprentices
share all the things necessary to develop this profession.
I think audacity and creativity are intimately linked, to a point that there can't be creativity without audacity
It's something natural to me, it's the way I feel
My aim is exclusively to create pastries that are tasteful, and make them appealing without gratuitous decoration
I'm very curious, I'm interested in the places where I travel. I'm also interested the world of fragrances, fashion and contemporary art.
These are all major sources of inspiration for my creativity.
I tasted many interesting desserts during my travels.
In particular I remember with pleasure the desserts I had at Andre Chiang's restaurant in Singapore