Maison Martell presents the latest episode of Martell HOME Live, its ground-breaking interactive talk show, live-streamed on the global HOME by Martell media platform. For more than 300 years, the oldest of the great cognac houses has forged a reputation for audacity and innovation, vibrantly restated by Martell HOME Live, which brings together a diverse array of talents around the idea of making a statement that shapes contemporary culture.
Martell HOME Live Episode 2 – “A Taste of Home” was live-streamed from Singapore on 4 December 2019, and could also be viewed on Maison Martell’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Hosted by leading restaurateur and culinary author Judy Joo, the gastronomy-themed show paired cultural change-makers from the worlds of fashion, music and sport – design duo Opening Ceremony, DJ and entrepreneur Arthur Bray, actress and presenter turned racing driver Claire Jedrek – with international chefs Esu Lee and May Chow and culinary collective Ghetto Gastro.
In conversation with Judy Joo, the guests shared their personal stories of breaking boundaries and achieving success while staying true to themselves. This series of lively and inspiring exchanges culminated in the chefs creating a unique Bao – the iconic Chinese dumpling – using ingredients suggested by each journey. These deliciously daring compositions were then served with innovative Martell cocktails created by mixologist Mel John Chavez from the award-winning bar the Tippling Club in Singapore. Intensifying the ambiance, Martell HOME Live Episode 2 also featured an electrifying live performance by American-Thai hip-hop artist DaBoyWay, whose music draws on the diverse cultural heritage he shares with the show’s other personalities.
Audacity, creativity, vision, courage, determination – all these values, which resonate with the enduring ethos of Maison Martell, were on display in this second episode of Martell HOME Live, spotlighting fascinating and inspiring individuals who are on their way to leaving a lasting legacy.
About the Martell Home Live – Episode 2 personalities
Arthur Bray
With dual Chinese and British heritage, Arthur Bray grew up in Hong Kong before moving to university in the UK. Afterwards, he tried to make it in the music business in London, part-timing as a DJ and writing a music blog called “Yeti in the Basement”. Soon he, along with his twin brother Tom and best friend Eri, were producing their own club nights under the label Yeti Out. When Arthur later returned to Hong Kong, he saw a gap in the market for alternative music in Asia, and decided to base himself there in order to give back to the city where he grew up. Today, Yeti Out aims to unite East and West through music, art, fashion and conversation, operating as a creative collective from bases in Hong Kong, Shanghai and London.
May Chow
Born in Toronto to Shanghainese parents, May Chow remembers helping her mother cook Chinese food with local Canadian ingredients. When her family moved to Hong Kong, she went to boarding school in the US before studying Hotel Management in Boston. Her real ambition, however, was to be a chef, and she returned to Hong Kong determined to follow her own path. In 2013, she opened Little Bao, a tiny restaurant famed for its Chinese dumplings reinvented to look like burgers. Known for her fun, inventive approach to food, in 2017 she was named Asia’s Best Female Chef – the youngest ever recipient of the award. May has used her success to support LGBT issues and The Women’s Foundation, which helps women in the male-dominated culinary business.
Daboyway
Prinya Intachai, known as Daboyway, is a first-generation American-Thai, raised in Brooklyn, New York. After high school, he travelled to Bangkok to visit family and ended up staying two years, during which he became a driving force of the Thai hip-hop scene. In 2000, he and four friends formed the group Thaitanium, one of the country’s first rap/hip-hop bands, which has released numerous chart-topping albums and garnered multiple awards. Now embarking on a solo career, Daboyway is one of the first Asian artists to be signed to the Def Jam record label. He has also imported New York-style barber shops to Bangkok with his successful chain Never Say Cutz and – together with his wife, model and actress Nana Rybena – runs the children’s fashion label Dektay.
Ghetto Gastro
Founded in 2012, Ghetto Gastro – aka John Gray, Lester Walker, Malcolm Livingston II and Pierre Serrao – are a culinary collective and cultural movement at the intersection of food, design and community empowerment. A long-term partner of Maison Martell, they take disruptive street-food from the Bronx and elevate it to fine cuisine to be spread across the globe. Their boundary-breaking approach attracts clients from the worlds of fashion, art, film, design and technology. From recreating the hedonism of Eighties’ Miami at Art Basel to serious work like their “Black Bodies” dessert (including a chalk outline of a body on a plate), they are not afraid to lean into culture and controversy.
Claire Jedrek
Born in the UK to a British father and Singaporean mother, Claire Jedrek has already packed several lives into her 36 years. She developed an interest in extreme sports from an early age and, as a teen, spent several years as an aggressive inline skater, during which she was scouted as a model and actress. From there, she moved into break and hip-hop dancing and sports presenting, which brought her into contact with the worlds of karting and motor-racing. She became a racing driver in 2013, just three years after getting her road licence, and is currently Singapore’s only female racing driver. Having had two children, Claire is taking time off the track to focus on the Singapore Karting Arena, which she co-owns with her husband, professional racing driver Yuey Tan.
Judy Joo
Judy Joo graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. After stints with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, she seemed destined for a high-flying career in finance, but instead followed her passion for food, which had been an important part of her upbringing, growing up as the child of Korean immigrants in New Jersey. She graduated top of her class from The French Culinary Institute, New York, and worked in Gordon Ramsay restaurants in London before opening her own venture, Jinjuu, in Soho. She has featured on numerous TV shows, published two books (Korean Food Made Simple and Judy Joo’s Korean Soul Food) and just opened a new restaurant, Seoul Bird, in London.
Esu Lee
Born in South Korea, Esu Lee left home at 17 to enrol at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in Sydney, before training with the late, great Australian chef Jeremy Strode. He returned to South Korea to complete his military service, which he served as private head chef to a senior commander. After a stint in Hong Kong, he was persuaded by a friend and fellow chef that some of the world’s best produce could be found in Paris. Soon, without speaking a word of French, Esu was on the plane. He was contacted by furniture designer Phil Euell, who had a small space – once a souvenir shop – which he wanted to turn into something exciting. The pair’s restaurant, CAM, opened in 2017 to rave reviews and endless queues. A second CAM is due to open next year in Los Angeles.
Opening ceremony
Carol Lim and Humberto Leon grew up in Los Angeles and met as students at the University of California, Berkeley. Despite not having any formal fashion training, they created Opening Ceremony out of a joint love of travel, fashion, people and their need to connect talents from around the world. They opened their first store in New York City in 2002 with the ethos that fashion should not be exclusive, and merchandised it so it was not divided by price tag. They were responsible for introducing New Yorkers to brands such as Havaianas flip-flops from Brazil and Acne jeans from Sweden. From 2011, they had a successful eight-year stint as co-creative directors of Kenzo, before leaving to focus solely on Opening Ceremony.
Link for Martell Home Live full show.
About Maison Martell
The oldest of the great cognac houses, founded by Jean Martell in 1715, Maison Martell is renowned throughout the world for the finesse and elegance of its cognacs, the result of a legacy of savoir-faire handed down through nine generations. Together with a passion for its craft and a profound attachment to the terroir, Maison Martell is defined by the audacity with which it has pioneered new expressions of cognac – from the icon Martell Cordon Bleu in 1912 to the trailblazing Martell Blue Swift today.
