Entrepreneurs Jérémy and Maggie Artan de Saint Martin settled in Macau 16 years ago, finding it to be the perfect environment to build their businesses, grow their family and still make time to give back to the community.
Jérémy Artan de Saint Martin and his wife Maggie first met in Hong Kong where she was teaching Mandarin to foreign students and he was with the Hyatt corporate office, working on strategic development and data analytics for their 56 Asia Pacific hotels.
They moved to Macau in 2009 for Jérémy to support the opening of the 790-room luxury Grand Hyatt. Another move the following year was to Shanghai where he took up the role of Director of Sales and Marketing for the opening of the Hilton there.
The couple comes from diverse backgrounds – he born in Brussels, Belgium, and she born in China and raised in Hong Kong since young. And having had a taste for the European-Asian environment, culture and lifestyle in Macau they both agreed that it would be a good place to settle and raise a family, so they returned in 2012. Maggie initially joined Ignite Media Group, a prominent Macau-based media conglomerate specializing in online, print, and out-of-home advertising.
But as Jérémy explains, “We’ve always wanted to have our own business.” By 2015 the liberalization of Macau’s gaming industry ten years earlier had marked a pivotal shift toward foreign investment and integrated resorts which presented so many business opportunities. “I studied at the Lausanne Hospitality Business School in Switzerland with a focus on finance and data driven marketing within the hospitality industry” so with this background and experience in making sense of hotels’ data and in creating code to automate financial models using Excel, Jérémy opened iExcel Technologies, a custom software development, consultancy and training company with offices now here and in Hong Kong.
Jérémy and Maggie’s entrepreneurial spirit also inspired them to bring Belgian culture to Macau in the form of authentic Belgian waffles. “I’m a food geek, I cook a lot. I’ve had a passion for the food business since young” he says. Teamed with Maggie’s business savvy and essential ‘can-do’ language skills, they opened Liège, selling handcrafted Belgian waffles, cookies and coffee. “We worked long and hard over many months perfecting our family recipe and sourcing key ingredients such as the unique pearl sugar from Belgium.” Cautiously optimistic the plan was to start small; at the time Broadway Street at Galaxy was opening; its little eateries and pop-up food stalls appealed to the couple. “We’d been told that there would be little chance of them having space for us, but suddenly, a week before opening, we were called – yes, there’s space, but you’ve got to get ready, fast! At the time Maggie was heavily pregnant with their second child but there was no time to waste. Nine days after giving birth Maggie was working at their kiosk. It was heavy however and she needed help moving it in and out each day. Jérémy laughs, “Friends saw me dressed in my office suit doing this. It gave new meaning to dressing for work!”
Within a few years Liège was recognized with a Macau Business of the Year award and today has grown to 5 outlets and a team of 13. The Artan de Saint Martin family has also grown; they now have three lovely daughters, Charlotte 12, Margot 10 and Éléonore 7 and giant white poodle, Jax!
As if family and work commitments weren’t enough, Jérémy is a staunch believer in giving back to the community, supporting the promotion of commerce and fostering business connections and cooperation between Macau and Europe, and between French and Macau companies, for the economic diversification of Macau. He is President of the General Assembly of the Macau European Chamber of Commerce (MECC) and a long-time Executive Board director of the France Macau Chamber of Commerce (FMCC), currently standing as their Treasurer.
Since first arriving in Macau 16 years ago, Jérémy and Maggie made the decision that they would rent rather than buy a home here. Instead, they bought a house in Belgium and a country house in Provence, France; “It’s the most beautiful and peaceful place, surrounded by vineyards and lavender fields. Such a charming area that recently my parents decided that they would like to move there too!”
The family’s first apartment in Macau was in the Manhattan, a luxury residential property in Central Taipa that had opened a couple of years earlier. “Coming from Hong Kong where apartments are quite a bit smaller, our 3 bedroom layout felt spacious. We then moved next door to Kingsville. My mother who was visiting at the time persuaded us to look for 4 bedrooms to accommodate our growing family. We visited Edificio Lai Chui Kok in Supreme Flower City with its over 2,000 square feet, 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms; at the time Charlotte was a toddler and when we saw her running from one end of the apartment to the other, we realized, yes, more space would be a good idea. And we fell in love with the view!”
“The best units on the higher floors have always been held by the developers. We initially moved in on a mid-level floor but when our landlord wanted the apartment back for themselves we started asking about other apartments in the same building. We were told that an apartment on a higher floor was available but had sat dormant since the building was completed 10 years earlier. We were interviewed by the developer’s family to check on our suitability!” Jérémy smiles.
Once deemed to be suitable tenants, preparations began to get the new apartment habitable. “The floors were laid, but other than that, after a decade of sitting vacant a lot had to be redone.”
From the front door the apartment opens out to a short entrance area, the dining room on the left and a spacious living room with large windows and sensational views over Old Taipa Village and to the Cotai Strip, especially impressive at night. “We keep this shared space clear and tidy – the girls can be messy in their rooms.” They chose the décor … the muted colour palette of creams, camel and white with copper and black accent pieces is elegant, understated, relaxing. Feature walls are in Dulux Elephant Tail grey (code 46YY 33/057 for paint enthusiasts!)
“The sofa and the standing floor lamps are from IKEA, the Eames-style arm chair and foot stool are from a high-end local furniture shop. The black lacquered TV console and side boards were custom made in Zhong Shan. The dining table, 4 chairs and bench (so when one enters the apartment the sight is not the backs of dining chairs) are in beautiful elm wood – also made in Zhong Shan by a carpenter familiar with western designs. The rugs are from China.
To the right is the kitchen and laundry as is the first bedroom and ensuite bathroom that serves as a home office, storage for bottles of fine wine and where Jérémy keeps his treasured guitar collection. The Takemine electro-acoustic guitar was an 18th birthday present from his parents. Then follows a quick lesson in guitar sounds; Jérémy explains that the quality of wood used in making each guitar gives their versatility; “Most of my guitars have a mahogany body with a maple top and an ebony or rosewood fretboard. The red hollowbody Ibanez is great for jazz and blues, the Flambe Top Gibson Les Paul Standard is an elegant and adaptable instrument good for blues, rock and other music styles, while the gold top Gibson Les Paul 50’s Tribute provides a more aggressive sound for rock.” The black one in the middle, an ESP Eclipse from Japan “is a true work of art. It has active EMG pick up and blasts a powerful sound, good for heavy metal. Then there’s a Fender Road Worn 50’s Stratocaster made of alder wood with its unique single coil pick up sound. And a Schecter Hellraiser, another Japanese brand.”
“During Covid when there was no traveling and little to do, a group of us got together and decided to start a band, calling it “21-days” (remember 21-days quarantine?!). Glenn McCartney, a talented pianist, decided he wanted to play the drums. Miguel Fale works as a 3D designer and is our professional singer. Architect Pedro Lagartinho plays base, drums and keyboard, I’m lead guitar. Herris Kocibelli, a very fine violinist, is on rhythm guitar.” Jérémy and Glenn like metal, the others prefer pop rock, so they settled on ‘grunge rock’ (think Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins). “It’s for fun. We play in the Roadhouse at the Broadway, the Ascott Red House, The Wanch in Hong Kong, even as far as Guangzhou and at a music festival in Zhuhai.” “Going global!” this writer teases and “Better keep your day job” says Maggie; we all laugh.
In the dining room hang four framed black and white photographs of several classic racing cars on the Le Mans track. Another black and white photograph is of ballet dancers – “the thin aluminium frames give lightness against the heaviness of the furniture.” The sound system speakers have had their front webbing removed to expose the copper inner workings – which are complemented by the copper-base side lamps on the hallway table.
The other three bedrooms are down a short corridor; Margot and Éléonore’s bedroom on the right, their bathroom on the left, further along Charlotte’s bedroom is on the left, and at the end of the corridor is the master bedroom with ensuite bathroom.
So delighted with their new home when they moved in, the Artan de Saint Martins invited close friends to take the apartment opposite. “We host parties together and their children are friends with ours. We love entertaining. When it comes to cooking, I’m a meat person. I like doing simple dishes to the perfection, using the best ingredients. I use French lamb shoulder from the Aveyron area in France and good cuts of beef. Boeuf Bourguignon, risottos, pastas, pizzas in my pizza oven are my specialties. Maggie is a good cook but doesn’t cook often – her piece de resistance is Dong Bo Rou, a North China pork dish. And for dessert, Belgian Tiramisu using our own Liège Speculoos biscuits” made with Belgian-style caramelized brown sugar, a selection of aromatic spices and a hint of orange: delicious!
What does the Artan de Saint Martin family enjoy most about living in Macau? “I describe Macau as a little village with endless opportunities” says Jérémy. “One can live a private and comfortable life, know your neighbours, go anywhere and know everyone. We are the largest casino city in the world so we have the best of everything, from Michelin star restaurants to world class international shows. Our girls go to the Macau Anglican College, a school with good values and the right balance between letting the children explore and more rigorous discipline where and when needed.” “Being in Central Taipa everything is very close and convenient. We feel safe. The girls can walk back from school and to their different activities; piano, gymnastics, drumming.” adds Maggie. “Macau is an international environment and we appreciate having our children exposed to the different cultures and languages.”
Article written by Ambiente’s Suzanne Watkinson, for the March-April 2026 Macau Closer magazine. Photos by Suzanne
