Michael Breach is a Brooklyn-based coffee artist who appears at events all over the world. Recently, Breach rendered guests' faces in foam at Facebook's IQ live event; his clients have also included Samsung, Old Navy, and Glamour magazine.
At events, Breach's setup includes a table topped with espresso equipment. Sometimes, hosts will place a camera connected to a monitor behind Breach, and guests can watch as the coffee artist creates detailed portraits, brand logos, or even images of guests' pets (he can work from photos) in foam. Because Breach's work lends itself readily to sharing on social media—according to reps for the Facebook IQ event, coffee is a major trending hashtag on Instagram—some hosts opt to set up photo areas with props for guests to facilitate photos of the latte art.
Companies have also provided printers that create branded printouts of the quickly dissolving images, and many events have special hashtags devoted to the coffee art. "In a way my work is social media, as it's a work of art that disappears. So you have to take a photo, and what better way to share photos than social media?" Breach says. "I'm able to work closely with creative teams to come up with a concept that best suits the event's particular needs. I can even take photos for the guests with a high-quality camera and e-mail them so they get a high-res version of the image."
Pricing varies depending on clients' needs and the length of an event, but typically ranges from $1,500 to $2,000 a day. Clients generally provide or cover rental fees for the espresso equipment and also cover travel and accommodations cost for events held outside of New York.
