Cover Andreas Koh and Adriana Zheng, the couple behind Sugarsmith, a homegrown macaron business with a physical store in Jewel Changi Airport (Photo: Andreas Koh)
Andreas Koh and Adriana Zheng, the couple behind Sugarsmith, a homegrown macaron business with a physical store in Jewel Changi Airport (Photo: Andreas Koh)
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Andreas Koh and Adriana of Sugarsmith on the technical grit and overnight effort required to deliver bespoke macarons for one of K-pop’s biggest stars
On Christmas Day, Jisoo of Blackpink posted an Instagram Story featuring macarons from Sugarsmith, a Singapore-founded artisanal macaron brand. “Merry merry christmas,” she captioned it, alongside heart and Christmas tree emojis. And no, this wasn’t a paid collaboration—simply an organic share from one of K-pop’s biggest stars to her millions of followers.
Read more: Blackpink’s Jisoo buys a US$14 million Seoul luxury villa—take a look inside the home
So how did that happen? For Andreas Koh and Adriana Zheng, the couple behind Sugarsmith, the moment was the culmination of an intense, high-pressure commission that had begun just days earlier.
The message came through a messaging app. In an email interview with Tatler, Koh admits they were “cautiously optimistic” at first. But after several exchanges, the communication style and specifics made it clear: Jisoo’s team wanted custom macarons—Hello Kitty, Shumon (Jisoo’s personal character), Christmas-themed—and they needed them fast.
While the order included their standard menu, the bespoke sculptural pieces—featuring Hello Kitty and Shumon—required an intensive overnight construction process.
Above For Jisoo’s Shumon macaron designs, Adriana Zheng studied references closely to determine which techniques and mediums would best replicate its features
For Jisoo’s Shumon macaron designs, Adriana Zheng studied references closely to determine which techniques and mediums would best replicate its features
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The brief was refreshingly open. Beyond the character requirements and seasonal theme, Zheng had complete creative freedom over design, colours, and execution. What followed was three hours of planning alone: sketching rough designs, narrowing down exact colour palettes (which directly affects how the batter is mixed), designing and printing templates to ensure every component was correctly sized. For the Shumon designs, she studied references closely to determine which techniques and mediums would best replicate its features.
Her background in chemistry proved useful. “I found that my background in chemistry helped me come up with proprietary solutions in creating delicious and beautiful macaron art,” Zheng explains. The discipline came from pandemic-era learning—extensive online research and countless hours practising techniques at home, then refining them through earlier pop-ups.
“It was largely the result of relentless trial and error. We learned extensively through online resources and spent countless hours practising techniques at home during the [Covid-19] pandemic, and baking tirelessly during our earlier pop-ups,” she adds.
The craft behind the commission
Above A custom Hello Kitty macaron sculpture featuring a Christmas tree and her teddy bear friend Tiny Chum
Above The shop’s macarons are formulated to be 30 per cent less sweet than standard versions
A custom Hello Kitty macaron sculpture featuring a Christmas tree and her teddy bear friend Tiny Chum
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As an official Sanrio partner, Sugarsmith is licensed to create macarons featuring Sanrio characters—a credential that positioned them well for high-profile orders requiring Hello Kitty designs. The shop’s macarons are formulated to be 30 per cent less sweet than standard versions, using real ingredients like Japanese matcha and real fruit compotes rather than artificial flavourings.
The flavours for Jisoo’s order—chocolate and strawberry, reportedly her favourites—were executed without compromise. Sugarsmith’s chocolate filling uses 100 per cent Valrhona cocoa powder with no added sugar, calibrated to balance the shell’s sweetness for Asian palates. The strawberry is made entirely from real fruit compote, seeds visible in the filling, offering acidity that counters the sweetness. The order coincided with their Christmas collection, which included new flavours like pistachio (made from 100 per cent pistachio paste) and wild berry and raspberry with real fruit compote.
Receiving the order was one thing. Seeing the macarons appear on Jisoo’s Instagram Story, viewed by millions, was another.
“It felt like vindication after months of 20-hour workdays—to know that the craft, effort, and attention to detail had been seen and appreciated on such a scale,” Zheng says.
But neither she nor Koh frame this as a transformative moment. “It didn't fundamentally change our ambitions, but it may have accelerated the timeline,” Koh notes. They’re hopeful about expansion into Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, or Tokyo—“each for different reasons”—when conditions are right.
Path to success
Above As an official Sanrio partner, Sugarsmith is licensed to create macarons featuring Sanrio characters
As an official Sanrio partner, Sugarsmith is licensed to create macarons featuring Sanrio characters
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The path to this moment traces back to the pandemic. “Sugarsmith began during Covid as a personal passion project,” Zheng explains. “What started as baking for friends and family gradually revealed a deeper potential—not just in technical execution, but in turning macarons into detailed, expressive pieces of edible art. It was only later, after having the financial confidence to take a longer-term view, that we decided to fully flesh this out as a business and invest seriously in building Sugarsmith as a brand.”
The brand launched in June 2025, and before opening their first physical boutique at Jewel Changi Airport six months ago, the couple had been operating through pop-ups. “Before this, we were mainly operating through pop-ups and doing so quite casually,” Koh says.
The turning point came when Jewel approached them to set up a store. As a premium mall, it required significant investment in booth design, craftsmanship, packaging, and higher-quality ingredients.
“That experience fundamentally shifted how we viewed the brand, pushing us to hold ourselves to a much higher standard across every touchpoint,” Koh explains.
The journey hasn't been without challenges. “One of the biggest challenges has been managing expectations—both externally and internally,” Koh reflects. “While the business has grown strongly, it is still a relatively young brand, and market penetration takes time even when many other aspects are done well. There were moments of disappointment in realising that visibility, trust, and scale can’t be rushed. At the same time, those early years allowed us to refine our craft, develop our visual language, and build a loyal following—which ultimately gave us the confidence to take the leap into opening our first physical outlet.”
The couple’s ambition extends beyond their own growth. “We want to make unique, well-crafted, Singapore-made products more visible,” Zheng says. “Singapore isn’t traditionally known for artisanal goods, and there’s still limited appreciation for handcrafted work here.” Their aim: to show that Singaporean brands can stand confidently on the global stage for craftsmanship and quality.
It’s a measured pitch for a business still finding its scale. But if a high-pressure commission for a K-pop star helps make that case, they’ll take it.
Andrea Saadan is the Senior Digital Editor of Tatler Singapore. She oversees all digital content for the website and currently leads the Beauty and Lifestyle verticals. As a child, she had always enjoyed reading and writing but it was only after she joined her college newspaper, The Spectrum, in Buffalo, New York, that she considered a career in journalism. Her love for all things beauty started from the age of two—when she was caught playing with (and damaging) her mother’s YSL lipstick. On top of her day job, she is also an unpaid beauty consultant for friends and family. Besides make-up, her obsessions include the wizarding world of Harry Potter, podcasts, ice-cream, her walking pad and watching endless re-runs of The Office (US).
