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.
