Before he moved to Dubai from the Philippines, Marvin Soliven, 31, didn't know a thing about the coffee industry. He grew up as an aspiring artist but fell into a job in a coffee shop. Eventually, however, he managed to find a way to combine his passion for art with his day job. And it's all thanks to the 2011 Hollywood blockbuster The Green Hornet.
"I watched the movie The Green Hornet and I saw Kato make a coffee with a leaf design. It made me wonder: 'How did he do that?' I'm into art. I can draw. So little by little I made some designs, watching YouTube videos and teaching myself," he says.
The practice goes hand in hand with Soliven’s personality. “I paint, I draw, I create charcoal renderings and I design houses. I followed the wrong path but I still apply the artistic side of me. Coffee is not only coffee, it’s art,” he says.
Knowing how to create latte art has helped him to enjoy his job more, too. “The most interesting part of making coffee is the design. It gives you a challenge and happiness when customers appreciate what you’ve created and the effort that you’ve made. Even when it’s just a small design, they’re happy. It’s a very nice feeling,” he says.
After mastering the art, the next step was to create his own signature design. “Everybody is doing hearts nowadays so I kept thinking about something new that I could design. It makes me proud because I didn’t copy it and I made something different. It’s a challenge for a latte artist to make one original design.”
Soliven will unveil his unique design when he goes up against his rivals at November’s UAE Latte Art Championship – a competition that he feels will be the most fierce yet.
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
Dark Souls: Remastered
Developer: From Software (remaster by QLOC)
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Price: Dh199
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Sunday's games
Liverpool v West Ham United, 4.30pm (UAE)
Southampton v Burnley, 4.30pm
Arsenal v Manchester City, 7pm
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
