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Finest Belgian Chocolate Brand, Callebaut® announces the second edition of their Pan-India competition – Callebaut® Patissier of the Year
MUMBAI: Extending its legacy in India, the finest Belgian chocolate brand Callebaut® has announced its search for India’s Callebaut® Patissier of the Year (CPY). CPY 2019 will start with a nationwide hunt for India’s best gourmet pastry chef via a boot camp series across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, in April 2019, followed by a grand finale in May 2019, in Mumbai.
Having celebrated talent such as Chef Alisha Faleiro at CPY’s first edition in 2017, the 2019 edition will push the creative quest for the ‘Future of Chocolate’, beyond all known boundaries thus far. This year’s theme will challenge contestants to create new flavour sensations and design new forms of desserts, pastries and confectionery, keeping in mind futuristic tastes, textures, innovation in application and presentation.
“Callebaut® Patissier of the year is a platform we’ve created to showcase the best pastry talents in India, making it a coveted title to win for the professional chefs to become national champions. After the successful first edition in 2017, we’re back with this year’s competition with much more interesting theme, raising the bar to exemplify professionalism and creativity. The erstwhile edition was solely dedicated to the art of chocolate celebrating Indian heritage, this year the theme of the competition is “future of chocolate”, in a world of constant change and technology being pivotal to these dynamics the realm of virtual world is merging with the real world. We expect to see chefs bring in their interpretations of this into creativity that will take chocolate to the next level!”, says Deepa Dsouza, Director – Gourmet Sales, Barry Callebaut India & Sub-continents.
The selection process requires interested chefs who have minimum three years of experience in a reputed Academy, Bakery Chain or Hotel to submit their applications with a portfolio of images of creations and/or sketches outlining their previous work experience on cpy_2019@barry-callebaut.com by March end. Thirty entries will be selected by a top end jury of celebrated chefs such as Chef Seung Yun Lee (Head – Chocolate Academy, Singapore), Chef Sarah Todd (Masterchef Australia Contestant Season 6), Chef Vinesh Johny (Co-founder and Executive Pastry Chef of Lavonne Academy of Baking Science & Pastry Arts, India), Chef Avijit Ghosh (Corporate Pastry Chef, Hotel LeelaVenture Ltd.) and Chef Minette (Head of Chocolate Academy – South Africa).
Following the portfolio review, a chosen few will move on to compete in ‘chocolate task’ boot camps across Mumbai (at the Callebaut Chocolate Academy), Delhi (at Academy of Pastry Arts, India) and Bangalore (at Lavonne Academy) on April 5th, 7th and 14th respectively.
Two out of ten participants from each city will be selected for the finale on May 3rd and 4th in Mumbai, where each chef will be put through rigorous tasks to create Cake of the day-Entremets, Moulded praline/Bonbons, Chocolate bars, a Chocolate display and a final mystery challenge, all themed across expressing what they feel will be the ‘Future of Chocolate’ in India.
Three promising chefs will be crowned the CPY 2019 winners and will stand to win all expense paid educational trips to learn from world renowned experts at Chocolate Academy™ center Wieze Chocolate Academy™ center Singapore and a master class with an international chef at the Chocolate Academy™ center Mumbai respectively.
CPY 2019 will give Indian patissiers the perfect opportunity to glean techniques from some of the best chocolatiers and pastry chefs in the world. It is all about diving deeper into the world of chocolate and developing an increased capacity to enjoy the finest chocolates available. Chocolate Academy™ centers are venues for the exchange of technical skills, dialogue and the sharing of love for all aspects related to chocolate. Whether you’re a pastry chef, professional cook or simply a chocoholic, really, who couldn’t use this kind of training?
Brands
IICT partners with Gativedhi to bring studio production tools to students
New MoU lets students explore AI-driven production pipelines for AVGC-XR
MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) has teamed up with Gativedhi Technologies to give students a front-row seat to modern studio production. The collaboration will integrate Gativedhi’s AI-powered production intelligence platform, Shotrack, into academic programmes, letting students experience the workflow systems used by animation, VFX and gaming studios.
Under the MoU, faculty, students and researchers will get hands-on access to Shotrack through beta programmes, pilot deployments and academic evaluations. This will allow them to explore simulated production pipelines, understand asset management, track tasks and monitor schedules, essentially seeing how complex projects come together behind the scenes.
Shotrack is designed to tackle a key industry challenge: when multiple studios work on the same project, differing internal systems often create bottlenecks, slow approvals and complicate version control. The platform provides a unified production environment, enabling smoother collaboration across distributed teams while generating operational insights and predictive analytics to optimise crew allocation, forecast schedule risks and manage costs.
The collaboration also opens doors to Gativedhi’s wider ecosystem. Upcoming tools include StudioTrack, for studio operations management covering budgeting, recruitment and IT infrastructure, and WorkTrack, which measures workflow efficiency and team productivity across industries.
IICT plans to embed these tools into programmes covering animation pipelines, VFX workflows, gaming production and media project management. Students will also benefit from guest lectures, masterclasses, workshops, internships and research projects that connect academic learning with real-world studio practices.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar, said the partnership provides “An environment where production pipeline tools can be explored, tested and refined while students gain insight into how large-scale productions are organised.”
Gativedhi Technologies founder & CEO Senthil Kumar added, “This collaboration introduces students to real-world studio management tools and helps us improve our platform with academic feedback.”
With Shotrack in classrooms, India’s future animators, VFX artists and gaming producers will get a taste of studio life long before they step into one.
