Specialising in character meringues inspired by illustrations and turning them into edible figurines, local home-based business Hanaringue brings art to life through baking.
Prior to baking meringues, a type of dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar, Zunnuraina Raihana was also searching for ideas on how to transform her personal artwork and eye-catching illustrations into reality.
During the outbreak of the second wave, she explored baking goods from cakes to bread and despite a satisfying outcome in taste and appearance, the entrepreneur saw that something is still lacking.
“Although the bakes are pretty and tasty, none of them completely satisfied my creative thirst. Then, I saw a video on character meringues, and that was when I saw the creative potential that could come out of crafting meringues,” she said.
When Meringues came into the picture, she saw it as the perfect way to realise her passion for art and baking, later adopting the motto, “On a Journey of Crafting Edible Figurines!”.
The local brand Hanaringue which name is a mix between the owner’s name ‘Hana’ and the dessert ‘Meringue’ holds the concept of an ‘artist’s bakery’, purely designed by the 21-year-old entrepreneur starting from Instagram posts, food-o-graphy sets, custom meringue designs as well as to product packaging.
Image courtesy of Hanaringue
Moreover, for the meringues, the goods went through countless trial-and-error processes before they can be sold, more than what Hana had done than for any other baked goods. She did not stop trying and powered through until she finally produced her now meringues.
“Once a batch of meringues came out exactly how I drew my draft, I was exhilarated. From then on, I now have a whole folder dedicated to meringue designs to bring into life,” she added.
Since then, the youthpreneur has ventured out into her business with uncountable various character designs of the meringues, and it has reached a wide audience since its inception in March 2021.
From Pikachus to emojis to other cute characters, Hanaringue is willing to try out many designs to fulfill customers’ requests.
The attractive meringues are sold online via the business’ Instagram @hanaringue, making it easy for customers to place their orders from the comfort of their homes.
For the local business, sales have been encouraging during the pandemic as the trend for online shopping increases among the local market.
Not only that, but the surge of the sales was also due to the business’ affiliation with a local store Phoenix Star where the latter helped Hanaringue in delivery services, restrategising as well as thinking of ways to sell the products more efficiently.
Talking about the future, the entrepreneur eyes to introduce more baked goods such as cakes and pastries, among others, as well as producing art merchandise like postcard illustrations and keychains, the reason for the opening of her own artist’s bakery.
For the 21-year-old, one can never be too old or too young to start their entrepreneurship journey and so she would always encourage other youths to build their own business as long they have the drive, passion, and support.
“I took a very long time to step outside the bubble and brave the challenge. But one needs to realise that there’s no harm in just trying, good or bad, an attempt was made and that is good itself,” she concluded.
Image courtesy of Hanaringue
This article was first published on 20 November 2021 in our Weekly E-Paper issue 168|
THE BRUNEIAN | BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
