Corporate bits | Sands chef part of winning team in sculpture contest

Sands Macao chef Patrick Li Hing Cheung was part of the winning Macau team that took first place in The 44th International Snow Sculpture Contest 2017, held last month as part of The 68th Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan.

Competing against 10 other teams from around the world, the Macau team took the top spot. The Macau team was comprised of Chef Li and teammates Perry Yuen Kam Hung and Tam Kuong Wu, all three of whom are members of the Macau Culinary Association.

According to Sands China’s statement, their completed sculpture, “Crane Dance in Spring,” edged out last year’s winner Latvia to take first place in the friendly competition.

Back in November, the Macau Government Tourism Office invited a team of snow carvers from the Macau Culinary Association to represent Macau again in this year’s competition, having also done so the previous year. Last year the Macau team was the contest’s runner-up.

Grand Lapa to hold ‘music x poetry’ night

Grand Lapa will host an open-mic session on March 14, titled “Music x Poetry Jam @ Vasco” for the second year at its bar and lounge.

Jointly organized by The Script Road – Macau Literary Festival and JAM Music, this event will adopt the “open-mic” concept (in which everyone is given the opportunity to perform onstage) from western countries.

According to a press release issued by the hotel, the performance could be in any language from any culture, and consist of a solo performer or band, instrumental or acoustic music, and traditional poetry or spoken word reading, as long as the content is appropriate and acceptable.

The three-hour experience starts at 9 p.m. with the performance changing from music to poetry until midnight.

The night will kick off with the performance “White and Red” by DEMO – a theatre and performance group, followed by resident musicians.

Whatsapp joins arsenal of online luxury

Federico Marchetti

Online luxury retailer Yoox Net-a- Porter said it’s developing technology that will allow well-to-do customers to buy products directly through WhatsApp as the e-commerce market for Prada and Versace goods becomes more competitive.

Yoox Net-a-Porter’s personal shoppers already communicate with top clients via the text-messaging service, and the Milan-based company plans to expand its use of the mobile app, Chief Executive Officer Federico Marchetti said in an interview in London.

By becoming one of the first companies to use WhatsApp to sell directly to customers, Yoox Net-a-Porter is seeking a leg up on competitors like Farfetch and luxury brands’ own sites. Less than two years after leaving the company, Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massanet announced last week that she’s joining Farfetch’s board, renewing her rivalry with Marchetti, who created Yoox and orchestrated the 2015 merger that created YNAP.

So far the fashion industry has been slow to capitalize on the opportunity of messaging. In China, the WeChat app has more than 700 million users –
many of whom have their bank accounts linked to the service. While 92 percent of global luxury brands use WeChat for marketing, only a small proportion of them sell directly through the app, according to digital researcher L2.