SINGAPORE – The concerts here by K-pop girl group Blackpink may have ended in November 2025, but one member still has Singapore on her mind.
On Dec 25, South Korean singer-actress Jisoo posted an Instagram Story showcasing macarons from a Singapore-founded artisanal brand Sugarsmith. She captioned it “Merry merry christmas”, adding emojis of two hearts and a Christmas tree. The post was unsolicited and not a paid partnership.
Sugarsmith is a premium macaron patisserie known for handcrafted, character-themed macarons and official Sanrio licensing, which means Sanrio characters can be used on its sweet treats. The brand was launched in June 2025 by co-founders and couple Andreas Koh and Adriana Zheng, and has an outlet at Jewel Changi Airport.
Jisoo’s team was stopping by Singapore on the way to South Korea when they messaged Sugarsmith on the evening of Dec 19 with a request for the order to be ready by Dec 20 night.
Ms Zheng, 25, said: “We generally focus on our standard collections, but this was a meaningful project for the team and we wanted to put something special together.”
Once the deposit was paid, Ms Zheng rushed to their central kitchen at Simpang Bedok and spent the next 24 hours on the order.
She designed templates from scratch, printed them out and made the batter with almond flour, egg whites and sugar.
After the macarons were baked, she meticulously iced and drew fine details on each one by hand. “The challenge was setting aside time for the mix to dry in between layers, so that these layers do not merge with one another,” she said.
For Jisoo’s order, Sugarsmith created about 150 macarons. These included about 25 custom Shumon macarons, as well as a large 14cm-tall Shumon sculpture, about four times the size of a normal macaron. Shumon is a character which Jisoo drew in middle school when she was inspired by a dust ball. The “shu” comes from her name, while “mon” is derived from the word “monster”.
Also included in her order was an extra-large Hello Kitty macaron sculpture complete with a Christmas tree and her teddy-bear friend Tiny Chum. She ordered a Sugarsmith Frens Xmas Large Giftbox ($65) and Sanrio Characters Xmas Large Giftbox ($85) as well.
On the evening of Dec 20, Jisoo’s team dropped by their store to collect the order and it made it to the star in time for Christmas.
Ms Zheng, who was a home baker in 2020 and 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, said she felt surprised and happy to see Jisoo post about the macarons.
She said: “There are many large macaron businesses in South Korea, so it feels so special that something from Singapore is recognised in this way.
“We have always done our best, and to be recognised by such a beloved celebrity makes it all worth it.”
Apart from Christmas, Jisoo had something else to celebrate. Her duet Eyes Closed with British musician Zayn recently hit 100 million streams on Spotify.
This is her fourth song to reach the milestone as a solo singer, after Earthquake (2025), Flower (2023) and All Eyes On Me (2023).