Life & Arts

It aims to unite motorsport thrill-seekers and festival-goers under the same strobe-lit sky

by AKMAR ANNUAR

ENGINES will not be the only thing roaring at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit this October — the bass will be too.

For the first time, Malaysia will play host to HardTech and Transmission, two of the world’s most powerful electronic music brands, in a high-octane weekend that fuses the rush of MotoGP with the euphoria of a world-class rave. 

Organised by Hi:Five Entertainment, the back-to-back shows will light up the SIC Helipad on Oct 18 and 19, turning the iconic venue into a pulsating arena of light, sound and adrenaline.

HardTech — a fusion of the global heavyweights Hardmission and Techmission — will make its Malaysian debut with a reputation for relentless beats, futuristic production and mind-bending visual artistry. 

This is where cutting-edge sound design collides with the kind of hard-hitting energy that leaves dance floors trembling.

On the second night, Transmission will take over with its legendary brand of trance, a spectacle renowned for cinematic themes, laser-perfect storytelling and a line-up curated to deliver pure emotional highs. 

Originating in Europe and captivating audiences across continents, its arrival here is being hailed as a new chapter for Malaysia’s dance music history.

“Think of it as a weekend-long sonic journey. One night, you’re deep in the pounding heart of hardstyle; the next, you’re soaring through the euphoric peaks of trance,” said the organisers.

The timing is perfect. With the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia 2025 MotoGP drawing thousands of fans from around the world, the collaboration aims to unite motorsport thrill-seekers and festival-goers under the same strobe-lit sky. 

It is more than a festival — it’s a cultural collision, a moment where engines and beats push the limits together.

The line-up reads like a who’s who of electronic titans. HardTech on Oct 18 brings Space 02, Tweekacore, Sub Zero Project, Warface, Trym and local heroes like Chukies & Whackboi, Bass Agent and Boris Fong. 

The following night, Transmission unleashes Driftmoon, Mandy, Daxson, Markus Schulz, Aly & Fila, Ben Nicky and more in a trance odyssey set to mesmerise.

Organisers expect 15,000 fans over the two days, with gates opening at 3pm and the music pounding until 11.50pm. 

General admission two-day passes start at RM268 for pre-sale, while VIP passes begin at RM468. 

Movenpick Hotel & Convention Centre KLIA and Ibis Styles Sepang KLIA are on board as official hotel partners, with special ticket-and-hotel combos to be announced soon.

Hi:Five Entertainment, the force behind the event, is no stranger to delivering unforgettable nights. 

Known for its dedication to curating diverse musical experiences, the team’s mission is simple — to unite people through music and create moments that will be talked about long after the last beat drops.

Tickets are now live on Ticketmelon.com and Megatix.asia. For the latest updates, follow @hifiveasia on Instagram and Facebook.

 

The post HardTech, Transmission roar into Malaysia for MotoGP weekend appeared first on The Malaysian Reserve.

Customers can enjoy a pastel-themed Bichi Mao makeover, with cute floor standees and decals that add a festive touch without going over the top 

by AKMAR ANNUAR 

SOME pairings make instant sense — kopi and roti bakar, nasi lemak and sambal, cats and cake? Apparently, that too. 

Secret Recipe’s latest collaboration with homegrown character brand Bichi Mao is one of those delightful surprises you didn’t know you needed — until you’re staring at a cake box adorned with a wide‐eyed cartoon cat that seems to ask: “Would you like another slice?” 

Celebrating its 28th anniversary and coinciding with both National Day and Malaysia Day, the café chain launches a three-month campaign from Aug 15 to Nov 15. This special event redefines the dessert experience by blending local nostalgia, playful childhood memories and the irresistible charm of a beloved feline character. 

But for those familiar with Bichi Mao, this isn’t just about the cute factor. It’s about an emotional pull — the kind that reaches into our collective memories of home, comfort and finding joy in simple things. 

Homegrown Character for Homegrown Brand 

“Growing up, Secret Recipe was a special part of our childhood memories,” said Bichi Mao founder Olive Yong, whose webcomic character has amassed over two million followers globally. 

Together with co‐founder Wee Lim, Yong has shaped Bichi Mao into more than just a moodboard of relatable cat comics. 

Initially known for its soothing 2D and 3D animations and heart-warming webcomics, Bichi Mao has since evolved into a fully‐fledged intellectual property (IP) — one that travels far beyond screens. 

Its presence spans merchandise, books, toys, fashion tie‐ins and now, café counters. It’s also a regular at pop culture events across Asia, steadily expanding through lifestyle and food collaborations that resonate emotionally with fans. 

The character’s visual appeal — pastel‐toned, rounded and expressive — is instantly recognisable. 

But it’s the underlying warmth and storytelling that makes Bichi Mao stand out. It offers a gentle reprieve from a noisy digital world, connecting with audiences through quiet empathy rather than loud spectacle. 

Paw-sitive Café Takeover 

At selected Secret Recipe outlets, customers can enjoy a pastel-themed Bichi Mao makeover, with cute floor standees and decals that add a festive touch without going 

over the top. Kids (and adults!) can also enjoy kids’ meal, featuring themed trays, serviettes and fun paper crowns — the perfect excuse to order from the kids’ menu. 

No cat‐themed collab would be complete without the jiggly dessert taking centre stage — a limited-edition Bichi Mao panna cotta, exclusive to selected outlets. 

It’s cutesy. It’s Instagrammable. And yes, it’s surprisingly good. 

From Cake Boxes to Cat-in-a-Cake

Secret Recipe has long been known for its packaging — the kind you instantly recognise at any birthday party. 

This time around, even the boxes are getting the Bichi Mao treatment, from slice to whole cakes, turning everyday takeaways into collector‐worthy moments. 

Limited‐edition Cat‐in‐a‐Cake plush keychains — Mao‐Cadamia, Choco‐Mao, and Mao‐Velvie — will be released monthly from Aug 15 to Nov 15. Priced at RM50 each or RM28 with two cake slices, they’re expected to create buzz among collectors and dessert lovers. 

Other merchandise on offer includes enamel pins (RM18), cake topper sets (RM8) and monthly sticker packs — free for SR Rewards members — that turn loyalty into tangible takeaways. 

Feel-good Reminder to Celebrate Local Joy 

“Whether you’re here for the cakes or the characters, we hope to offer something that sparks joy while staying true to our Malaysian roots,” said Secret Recipe Group CEO Patrick Sim. 

It is a reminder that local brands can thrive not only by exporting their products, but also by creating emotional value through storytelling and collaboration. 

Many Malaysian brands now partner with retail and food outlets, but few feel as natural as this. It’s not a gimmick — just a thoughtful celebration of local creativity, both classic and modern. 

For Bichi Mao, the partnership signals another milestone in its journey from niche comic character to household name — a comforting, cat‐shaped companion that now sits beside our cakes and coffee. 

A cosy café, a comic cat, a slice of cake — all reminders that small, sweet things still matter. 

So yes, come for the cake. But stay for the mao‐ments. 

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• This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition

The post Cakes meet Bichi Mao in Secret Recipe’s purr-fect duo appeared first on The Malaysian Reserve.

A century on, Art Deco remains a favourite among collectors 

by KRISTEN SHIRLE 

WHEN a magnificent collection of jewellery came up for auction at Christie’s last November, everyone knew it would be a blockbuster. 

The dazzling array of diamond, ruby and emerald concoctions commissioned from Cartier on Bond Street in London in the 1920s and ‘30s had remained in the hands of the Sassoons, a prominent Baghdadi Jewish dynasty, for the ensuing century. 

It even survived the bombing of the bank where it was stored during World War II. The group’s star lot — an exceptional Indo-Persian Art Deco diamond necklace weighing from 130 carats to 140 carats — was a rare example of historic preservation from an era in which most significant jewels were sold off or remodeled. 

And it was priced accordingly, with a high estimate of 1.3 million Swiss francs (RM6.9 million). 

It sold for 4.4 million Swiss francs — one of many recent testaments to the enduring appeal of Art Deco, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. 

The aesthetic, which shaped fashion, architecture, art and jewellery, began in the 1910s, flourished in the Roaring Twenties and then waned during the Great Depression. 

Although it lasted a mere 20 years, the movement had an outsize impact on design for decades to come and contemporary independent designers still find inspiration in its clean lines and bold shapes. 

“Art Deco remains the most popular period for collectors,” said Phillips auction house worldwide head of jewellery Benoît Repellin. 

The style officially burst into the international spotlight in 1925 with the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. 

(Hence “Art Deco.”) Organised by the French government as a platform to showcase modern design, the Paris Expo had initially been scheduled for 1915 but was delayed by the onset of World War I. 

When it finally opened a decade later with exhibitors from 21 countries, more than 16 million people visited, perusing roughly 15,000 pieces from the biggest names of the day, such as René Lalique, Le Corbusier and Jeanne Lanvin. Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann’s Le Pavillon de l’Élégance came to define Art Deco interior design.

The work on display was a revelation. At the end of a brutal war, advances in aviation and automobiles, as well as the spread of electricity, were quickly remaking the world. Avant-garde art and literature were flourishing — it only made sense that new forms in decorative art would sweep through as well. 

“Art Deco was a response to a time when there was a lot of hope about the world being in a really exciting, modern place,” said designer and vintage jewellery curator Briony Raymond. “There was a lot of opulence in the Roaring Twenties.” 

The new geometric motifs were a departure from the lush, nature-inspired forms that had defined the prewar aesthetic — the “organic, swirly-whirly world of the art nouveau period,” Raymond said. 

Alexandrine Maviel Sonet, patrimony and exhibitions director at Van Cleef & Arpels, agrees. “Art Nouveau was really pastel, round shapes and complex art,” she said. “Art Deco was completely different: Simple, it’s very geometrical and they wanted the contrast of colour.” 

In the mid-1910s, designers, including Van Cleef, had already begun making pieces that explored this idea. Bichromatic baubles paired onyx with diamonds or coloured gemstones — typically emerald, ruby or sapphire — and used bold patterns to highlight the sharp contrast. 

Later, in 1919, adding a third colour became fashionable and diamond-onyx pairings with one coloured gemstone became a hallmark of Art Deco jewellery. 

Ultimately, though, not a singular style or motif defines Art Deco. It “encompassed a lot of different design movements happening during that time,” Raymond said. 

“If I wanted to distill it down into a really simple description, I would say less organic, more geometric, less free-flowing, much more bold and architectural.” 

Art Deco jewels could be flat or have lots of volume with carved gemstones and cabochons. Platinum became a hallmark, but gold was used as well. 

This diversity is a reason Art Deco remains so popular. “We call it a movement, but the name came much later in the 1960s, when they looked back at this period of the ‘20s and ‘30s,” said Phillips’ Repellin. “It’s actually very broad.” 

Motifs from East Asia and India influenced jewellery designers, he said, which led to the birth of Cartier’s Tutti Frutti jewels, a quintessential Art Deco design that nonetheless features coloured gems engraved in the shape of leaves, buds and berries punctuated with diamonds and onyx or black enamel. 

These more maximalist pieces still fetch lofty prices — a Tutti Frutti necklace sold for US$8.7 million (RM40.7 million) at auction last year. 

Jewelley was an undeniable highlight of the 1925 expo. Aside from Cartier, Boucheron presented 232 pieces and Van Cleef exhibited dozens, with its Entwined Flowers, Red and White Roses bracelet winning grand prize. 

Collectors embraced the movement immediately. In 1928 the Maharaja of Patiala, in northern India, brought several trunks filled with gemstones to Boucheron’s boutique on Place Vendôme in Paris and placed the largest order the maison had ever received. 

“The majority of these pieces were typical of the Art Deco style,” said Boucheron CEO Hélène Poulit-Duquesne. “Everyone was obsessed by the new style.” 

That included the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson, the Rothschild family and Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. 

Art Deco jewellery also took over Hollywood. Stars including Mae West and Jean Harlow donned the geometric styles in their movies, no matter the film’s time period. 

Cleopatra, from 1934, was “the most Art Deco movie ever,” despite its ancient setting, said Paramount Pictures jewellery and costume archivist Jaci Rohr. In 1935, Cleopatra star Claudette Colbert wore a significant Art Deco necklace from American jeweller Trabert & Hoeffer in The Gilded Lily, thought to be one of the first examples of fine jewellery product placement in film.

But perhaps the most magnificent piece to grace the silver screen was Marlene Dietrich’s own ruby and diamond Jarretière bracelet from Van Cleef, which she wore in Stage Fright in 1950. (It sold for US$4.53 million at Christie’s in 2023.) Architecture followed on a naturally longer timeline: New York’s iconic 1930s Chr ysler Building and Rockefeller Centre, the hotels along Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from the ‘20s through the ‘40s, the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, the 1933 Battersea Power Station in London, Paris’ Palais de Tokyo and Folies Bergère and entire neighbourhoods in Mumbai and Napier, New Zealand, are all tribute to the power of the movement.

Even today the elevators in many office buildings bear the clean lines and formal shapes of Art Deco’s influence. 

When the Great Depression hit, the era of frivolity, flappers and massive diamonds came to an end. Art Deco designs increasingly made use of semiprecious materials, such as rock crystal, lapis, agate and amber, until a more somber sensibility took hold preceding World War II. 

British journalist Bevis Hillier is credited with its modern resurgence — and retrospectively naming the artistic movement — after publishing a book in 1968 that highlighted its beauty. 

Art Deco jewellery, in particular, has a distinct visual sensibility that somehow feels more modern than designs from recent decades. “When clients start collecting jewels or looking at jewels, it’s nice to have something that you recognise and you know it’s typical of that period,” Repellin said. 

This insatiable appetite continues to influence contemporary jewellery design as well. Creative directors at historic houses look to their archives for inspiration and incorporating Art Deco elements can help clients decide to make a seven-figure investment. 

They don’t have to worry that it will be out of style in a few years and they’ll be able to wear it on many occasions. “Brands know if they have a bit of an Art Deco twist, they will have buyers for their high-jewellery pieces,” Repellin said. 

A few years ago, for example, Poulit-Duquesne wanted to highlight Boucheron’s rich Art Deco history and the maison unveilled a high-jewellery collection called Histoire de Style, Art Deco, inspired by its most exquisite pieces. 

Creative director Claire Choisne used a strict colour palette with emeralds, diamonds, rock crystal and onyx, playing on many of the era’s themes. 

The following year, Boucheron released a collection inspired by the orders placed by the Maharaja of Patiala and other royal Indian collectors. 

Museums aren’t missing their chance to celebrate Art Deco’s lasting appeal either. Cartier has a massive show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, open through November 16, that includes many Art Deco masterpieces. 

And in October the Musée des Arts Déco-ratifs in Paris will unveil “1925-2025. One Hundred Years of Art Deco,” an ambitious retrospective that will cover the style’s early days in the 1910s through its resurgence in the ‘70s, including new permanent rooms dedicated to it. 

Visitors will have the chance to stand before some of the original creations and imagine the moment that gave rise to a movement — a time of joy, beauty and infinite possibility. — Bloomberg

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• This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition

The post Why collectors are still spending millions on Art Deco jewellery appeared first on The Malaysian Reserve.