- Brad Ludden, Founder of First Descents and Top Ten CNN heroes of 2016:

“ Filled with all of the insights, information and inspiration to reclaim your life, this book is a beautiful guide book to help navigate the rapids of cancer with confidence.”

- Elmer Huerta, oncologist, founder, and current director at the Cancer Preventorium of MedStar Washington Hospital Center. U.S.A

“An agile, didactic book; one that inspires hope and, above all, much optimism.
With each and every story and testimony compiled many will say ‘I, too, can do it, I will keep going’.”

Years ago Bonnae Gokson was looking at photos of a celebrity wedding — “I guess I should not mention names because I’ll be in trouble” — and while the dress, the decor and the florals were lovely, “I just thought the cake was so awful,” she says.

So began the spark for her latest book, “Weddings, Butterflies and the Sweetest Dreams,” out now. The book takes inspiration from weddings that Gokson attended and observed from afar, and pairs them with a signature cake of her design that she feels most fitting — all rooted back to the idea of a butterfly.

“[When] I started my cake business [Ms. B’s Cakery], I chose very common, very commercial [designs], which is a butterfly to represent us. Because it really is what stands for our business,” she says. “We never put any preservatives in our cakes, and butterflies have a very short life. You can Google any butterfly, or rare butterflies, and you’ll be amazed at how many beautiful butterflies there are. So for me it is never-ending, creating beautiful things.”

The weddings in her book range from more public weddings she’s admired, like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s, to those of her close friends — either those getting married, like Margherita Missoni, or those behind the dress, like Vera Wang.

“[Angela Missoni] asked me, ‘why don’t you take some of these pictures?’ Because Angela is good friends with my family. And I love the way how she does all this gypsy style, but in very posh way,” Gokson says. “So I created a naked cake for her. Just to blend in.”

Though she toasted the book during bridal week in October with Vera Wang, she sees the book as having universal appeal beyond just brides.

“It’s incredibly interesting. That’s why I say whether you’re getting married or not — like, I’m not getting married — it’s nice to see just, you know? It’s nice to see.”

Together with her sister Joyce Ma, the two ran Joyce Boutique, which became one of Asia’s most prominent fashion groups. “I can only tell you the few that we did not have: Ralph Lauren, Hermès, Chanel,” she says. “All the rest, we were the ones to start [carrying], where our group was probably just a little bit bigger than Bergdorf’s and Barneys. So we started Armani, Prada, Gucci, just oh so many.”

She worked in the fashion industry for many years, most recently as the regional director for Chanel Asia-Pacific. “After that, no more fashion. Oh my god. It’s serious hard work, you know?” she says.

She embarked on a years-long sabbatical after leaving Chanel and then opened a restaurant and a cake shop. Her cakes, naturally, take heavy inspiration from her fashion background when it comes to their design.

“We’ll always be connected with fashion,” she says of her and her sister. “I like to pick different fashion elements. I mean, you don’t have to be in big white gowns; some people get married very simply. It doesn’t have to be three or four or five tiered cakes. So [my book] gives you a variety of what is nice for the wedding, in terms of fashion.”

At its core, she hopes the book will be a source of escape for many.

“I just think with so many things happening in the world that’s not too nice, no one really wants to turn on the TV for news,” Gokson says. “I think to surround ourselves with beautiful images and that is also in the way of celebration, is wonderful.”

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Book Review: A Fantastic State of Ruin by David Zurick

Posted on September 22nd, 2018 by Hans Durrer

What first and foremost attracted me to this tome is the fact that since I visited Rajastan some years ago I’m carrying pictures in my head that deeply affect me. The places in India that I have been to (Delhi, Gurgaon, Agra, Jaipur) left me stunned – the masses of people, the traffic and noise, the colours and, especially, the women who I thought the most beautiful and dignified I’ve ever laid eyes on. What also made a mark on me was the observation by U.R. Ananthamurthy “that the Indian writer is luckier than his Western counterpart, for he lives simultaneously in the 12th and 21st centuries, and in every century in between” for it describes perfectly what I experienced when looking through my car window while my driver was busily navigating through traffic. “No rules,” he commented. “Do cars in other countries go all in one direction?” he wanted to know. “Generally speaking yes,” I answered, “they usually do not come from from left or right or towards you.”

A flooded street in Fathepur mirrors the traditional ochre walls of an abandoned haveli alongside acrylic paintings on a newly-renovated building.

David Zurick is an educator and a self-taught photographer who does in this cleverly done book (quite some pondering must have gone into arranging the photographs so felicitously) what I wish more photographers would do – he describes how, and into what mood, he was approaching what he came to photograph. The chapter “The Desert” starts like this: “The Bikaner Express left the Delhi railway station before dawn and arrived four hours later at Churu Junction. I barely had time to collect my luggage and hop off the carriage before the locomotive sped away again on its journey across Rajasthan …” In addition, he gives an account of the landscape (he’s an academically trained geographer, after all) – information that help one to imagine aspects that photographs alone cannot convey.

A Fantastic State of Ruin does not elaborate on what made David visit The Painted Towns of Rajasthan yet one might assume that he wanted to document what “might not be around for much longer.” Needless to say, the beautiful havelis (mansions), frescoes, and wall murals are reason enough although I keep on wondering how (India is a very vast country) he became aware of the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. Anyway, I’m glad he did and that the people at Goff Books decided to publish this superb book.

A Fantastic State of Ruin is divided into four sections (The Desert, The Towns, The Inhabitants, The Painted Walls), a well-thought out structure that lays out the stages of the photographer’s approach. Each section is introduced by a short text that complements the photographs. Apart from being highly informative, these texts make also clear why, occasionally, words do not stand in the way of seeing but make for richer seeing. “Traveling from one town to another on the tiny tarmac roads or along the rutted sandy tracks once favored by the camel caravans, I always remained in the vicinity of a water feature, ever mindful of the fact that without them there would have been no trade or human settlement in the Great Indian Desert – and no painted towns.”

Three generations of caretaker families live in the abandoned Seth Ram Gopal Poddar Haveli (ca. 1880), Ramgarh

What I like most about A Fantastic State of Ruin is the meditative calm it radiates. That has most probably also to do with the fact that quite some photographs were taken on misty winter mornings. Another contributing factor is the seeming unpretentiousness of the people portrayed – on pages 100/101, one sees a mural of a woman in a sari on the one page and a photograph of a somewhat similarly looking woman on the other page. I’m reading this as a document of timelessness – and that, to me, is meditation.

A Fantastic State of Ruin is at the same time a convincing document of the unique painted towns of Shekhawati and an invitation to visualise timelessness.

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RGS entrance

(center-right in back) is Lord Selborne, 4th Earl of Selborne and past-President of the Royal Geographical Society

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Asia’s premier tastemaker, visionary, and icon of style,

Bonnae Gokson creates wedding vignettes in her much-awaited second book

After the beautiful coffee table book Butterflies and All Things Sweet: The Story of Ms B’s Cakes debuted to international praise in 2013, and received three top awards thereafter, many anticipated the next creation from its author, the international style guru Bonnae Gokson. The wait was all of five years, but well worth it. This month, the renowned cake stylist launches her second book, Weddings, Butterflies, & The Sweetest Dreams in Manila (26-27 September) and in New York (4 October) in an event hosted by Vera Wang. For the Hong Kong launch, Gokson would like to do it when she opens her third cake shop in this Asian capital she calls home.

“This wedding celebration book gives interesting images of details on special occasions across the world,” says Gokson. “Like, how most Javanese brides wear their hair, weddings held in bare nature in Colorado, night moods on food in Australia, and my crafted cakes paired with each scenario.”

The idea for the book came about when Gokson saw a photo of a high-profile couple’s wedding in Italy. “I thought the wedding cake was a letdown,” she says. “It looked roughly finished and just didn’t match the romantic setting.” She saw the need for a book that “shows multi-cultural celebrations in a more refined way of capturing images. And since I love to pair my cakes with beautiful settings and share them on Instagram, I thought... why not?”

For Gokson, Weddings, Butterflies, & The Sweetest Dreams is a labour of passion and love that took over two years to plan. She shares the complicated process. First, she only shoots her cakes on Sundays, as her two outlets in Hong Kong (the restaurant SEVVA and the cake shop Ms B’s Cakery) are so busy with work and deliveries all week long. Scheduling her photographer is also a challenge because he is constantly travelling. Then, her creative team is in Sydney and her publisher, ORO Editions + GOFF Books, is from the United States. “So could you imagine the time differences and challenges we go through just to get things right?” she remarks.

1.  It’s always a tough job as hosts to spark a conversation amongst guests. I think it’s always fun to have each guest briefly introduce themselves and then say something about how they met the host. It at least gets the conversation started and often takes off from there!
2. I always like to curate a playlist for any party I am hosting, but I often like add a surprise act to add some pizazz to the party. I plan it so that it’s in the midst of the dinner or at the tail-end. In the past, I have had a Broadway singer dressed up in a chef uniform and pushing a dessert cart out while he serenaded the guests, a drag singer crooning away to guests and even an a Capella group who would be like waiters to perform in my dinners. The choices are endless and are such a nice added treat for my guests
3. I collect plenty of plates and cutlery sets for my parties – it depends on what I am in the mood to transform the room and table into. I think that the art of plating is extremely important. It depends on the type of cuisine and how many courses I’m serving. For example, I have this set of plates that have illustrations of the faces of the top fashion designers of the world. That’s always a fun way to set a table and even sparks a conversation. For a more casual setting, I like to serve a bento platter with a variety of dishes on a tray. I love to play with colors when setting a table. I think it makes the setting more enticing.
4. I think it is extremely important to never put strong scented candles at the dinner table, it ruins the overall aroma and can be too strong for the meal. The atmosphere is also important. Never pick bright lights – dim lighting or candles are always best.

5. When picking the menu, I think it’s important to have the meal as balanced as possible. I change up my menu options for almost every party, but my favorites are:

• Warm Angel Hair Pasta with Cambo (a variety of seaweed), chives tossed in white truffle oil topped with Oscietra Caviar
• Butter Baked Half Baby Lobster
• Demitasse of Asparagus, Watercress & Broccolini Soup, which I call Green Soup
• Roasted Wagyu Rib Eye with Four Peppercorn sauce
• Panfried Coral Garoupa with Champagne Beurre Blanc & Manila Clams
• A Mint Chiffon Sponge Cake or Marie-Antoinette’s Crave Cake of chocolate

6. A little something for guests to take home is always nice. I have given little containers of my homemade strawberry and rose petal jam or ginger marmalade in the past, or even tea leaves in nice packaging. I’ve even giving out a CD of a compilation of the music that was played during dinner, which I find my friends seem to love.

7. The flowers I pick for a dinner change seasonally, but my favorites are peonies, peacock tulips orchids, anemones, etc. Having an interesting selection of vases is important. If I use transparent glass vases, I add a drop of food coloring to compliment the flowers. By the time all the candles and votives are placed, the table is glowing and looks stunning.

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