The residency project will be organized for the fifth time with young professionals from the Francophone countries and China. This year’s theme is pastry. In collaboration with the Jinsong Conventional School in Beijing, Changsha ‘La Belle Vie’ Institution, the embassies of Switzerland, France, Morocco, the Delegation Wallonie-Bruxelles, and the Office of Québec, 10 French-speaking and 10 Chinese-speaking young professionals will be engaged in a three-week workshop in Beijing and Changsha to develop new recipes and works, with coaches from their native countries.
Their creations will be displayed on March 10 at the opening ceremony of the Francophonie Festival at the French Embassy in Beijing and the closing event of the residency program on March 12.
As an important part of the Francophonie Festival, the young artist residency program has been well received for its film, dance and engravings workshops by young professionals in the past years.
Swiss Participants
Sara Bezençon
Sara Bezençon was born in 1996. In 2011, she started her training as a pastry and confectionery expert and obtained the professional certificate ranking third in her home canton of Vaud. With great passion, she continued with her career, but this time at a bakery, to gain knowledge about different techniques in the field.
After finishing her training, she ranked first this time in her category. She participated in the young confectioners’ and the young bakers’ competition with contestants from the French and Italian speaking part of Switzerland. She ranked fourth and first respectively in the competitions. Now she is set to go on several journeys to discover new cultures and flavors.
Normand Jubin
The Swiss professional was born in 1995. Coming from a family of pastry chefs of three generations, during his youth, he was confronted with a choice that will determine the rest of his life: becoming a confectioner, animated by the passion of the craft. In 2014, he ranked first of his province in the final exam. In 2015 Norman begun his second apprenticeship at a bakery, finishing in the second place. From this moment on his true career begun. With the ambition to participate in the Pastry World Cup, he will do everything to achieve this goal.
Swiss Chef Joachim Caula
Swiss chef Joachim Caula has more than 30 years of experience in renowned patisseries of the world’s leading luxury hotels from South East Asia and Middle East to India, Egypt, Mexico and the USA. He has been working in leading positions in places such as the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, the Al Bustan Bakery in Muscat, Oman or the Reef Oasis Blue Bay Resort in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt just to name a few. His great passion for chocolate and desserts earned him the honorary title “Truffle Prince”.
In August 2015, Chef Joachim joined Kempinski Hotel Beijing to oversee all pastry operations. Together with his creative team he is working on artistic and innovative desserts with a vision to surprise.
