NEW YORK — With an artistic flair and a passion for chocolate, Kanami Kawaguchi, a Manhattan-based Japanese fashion model, is creating her latest concoctions in time for the Valentine's Day rush.

While her full-time job in New York is as a fashion model who has strutted the New York runways in fancy clothes, accessories, different hair styles and makeup for about five years, she has an unusual zest for chocolate, despite being allergic to it.

"For me, making chocolate right now means making many people happy, as well as making myself happy, and it is a cure and exciting for me and above all, it is becoming a part of my life," she explained during a recent interview.