Of the many people one might expect to meet at the Abu Dhabi Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition (Adihex), a Japanese sugar sculptor is not among them.
Takahiro Mizuki is one of just a handful of master craftsmen, practicing amezaiku – the art of sculpting elaborate sweets into a wide array of forms such as animals.
As he begins performing, a crowd quickly gathers. They watch as he dusts his fingers and picks out a thick, molten lump of sugary syrup.
“This is gelatinous starched syrup,” says the 45-year-old from Tokyo, rolling it into a ball; quickly – presumably to keep from burning his hands. “Originally, it is a liquid, and I prepare it by boiling it and making it thicker.”
He places the ball – now hardening, and a perfect sphere – onto the end of a thick plastic straw, and picks up his main tool, a small pair of iron scissors. Always working quickly, he cuts at the sphere, and begins moulding it, pinching part of it and stretching it. Although it could still be one of any animals, a few cuts and bends later and it is very clear Mizuki has a horse in the works. “All I have to do is construct one particular point, and then exaggerate it. For example,” he pauses and places his arm near his nose, forming a mock-elephant’s trunk, before mimicking an elephant’s cry and laughing.
Once he has contoured the horse into graceful shape, he picks up a small brush and paints a pair of eyes with food colouring.
The horse is one of the most popular animals requested at Adihex, along with “falcons, of course” and camels. He takes odder requests as well, and is more than happy to make a Pikachu, if asked.
Mizuki’s tools and material are neatly stored in a light brown, square box, with numerous small drawers. One drawer is left open, with brushes dipped in various food colouring jars. Inside a larger compartment is an electric heater, which is used to heat and boil the material. “In older times, this would have been a charcoal heater, with fire,” he says.
On top rests a shelf pierced full of holes. This is where he hangs the animals upside down to cool and harden in the windstream of an electric fan. Before he hands out the hard horse lollipop, he taps it with his scissors – to a chime of perfection.
Amezaiku originates in Western Japan, where sweets were originally just twisted. During the Edo period (1603 to 1868), the Tokugawa shogunate united Japan and introduced an era of peace after centuries of internecine strife. As a result, the economy boomed and, Mizuki says, people gained an appreciation for the finer things in life.
“Elder craftsmen suddenly started trying to make animals – and that’s the way it started.”
While Mizuki says only between 10 and 20 people are able to perform amezaiku, there are even fewer masters.
“I think there are only five or six masterclass artisans. I’ve been doing this for 15 years, so, year-by-year I am getting better and better, little by little.”
Some of the other masters apprenticed elder craftsmen, but Mizuki taught himself. “I stole the techniques,” he smiles. “When I first saw someone do it on television, just for a few seconds, it attracted me and I just wanted to try it.”
When the opportunity arose to meet his televised hero, Mizuki seized it, and went to watch him craft one hundred edible pieces – in just six hours.
He was working in IT at the time but started making candy for his friends and family – even performing at a friend’s wedding, where he met his wife. Today, he says he has a lot more fun with his job. “I’m happy.”
A simple piece of amezaiku candy will usually sell for about Dh15, and while some of his peers own stores, Mizuki prefers to travel, setting up stalls across Japan and the world. It is his second time at Adihex and his fourth in Abu Dhabi, having performed twice at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference.
Mizuki also makes flowers using his amezaiku technique – though this is a still rarer skill.
“It’s different from the Western way. Western artisans will make them piece by piece, putting them together one by one. But my way, I start with just one ball and I make it from that.
“I will show you something very rare. Very rare,” Mizuki says, as he takes out a cloth pouch with a tube attached. He makes a sphere out of hot candy and places it onto a straw.
“This is the first time doing this in Abu Dhabi,” he continues, as he places the tube onto the end of the straw. He pumps it up a little bit, and then hands it over. The aim is to slowly blow into the tube like a glass blower, turn it around, blow again and repeat until it inflates into a candy balloon.
When it’s inflated, he leaves it to cool down – which it does, becoming a hard but fragile form. Mizuki places two sticks into the two of the holes on the shelf where he usually places the candy to cool, then holds the sugar balloon against them – proving that it is too large to pass in between.
“This is actually a good size – so you would win,” he smiles.Making balloon candy is an old game, he explains, in which anyone brave enough can pay to see whether they can blow a balloon too big to pass through the sticks. The prize? “They get a good amezaiku. They can take any one they like.”
If they fail? “They can take home the balloon,” he smiles.
Hareth Al Bustani is a features writer at The National.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 2,200m
Winner: Arjan, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer).
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner: Jap Nazaa, Royston Ffrench, Irfan Ellahi.
6pm: Al Ruwais Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 1,200m
Winner: RB Lam Tara, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinal.
6.30pm: Shadwell Gold Cup Prestige Dh125,000 1,600m
Winner: AF Sanad, Bernardo Pinheiro, Khalifa Al Neyadi.
7pm: Shadwell Farm Stallions Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
Winner: Jawal Al Reef, Patrick Cosgrave, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
7.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner: Dubai Canal, Harry Bentley, Satish Seemar.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Moving%20Out%202
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Lampedusa: Gateway to Europe
Pietro Bartolo and Lidia Tilotta
Quercus
RESULTS
2pm: Maiden Dh 60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m. Winner: Masaali, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer).
2.30pm: Handicap Dh 76,000 (D) 1,400m. Winner: Almoreb, Dane O’Neill, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
3pm: Handicap Dh 64,000 (D) 1,200m. Winner: Imprison, Fabrice Veron, Rashed Bouresly.
3.30pm: Shadwell Farm Conditions Dh 100,000 (D) 1,000m. Winner: Raahy, Adrie de Vries, Jaber Ramadhan.
4pm: Maiden Dh 60,000 (D) 1,000m. Winner: Cross The Ocean, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
4.30pm: Handicap 64,000 (D) 1,950m. Winner: Sa’Ada, Fernando Jara, Ahmad bin Harmash.
ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
