Ice Age

In the sticky heat of a Hanoi summer, it’s hard to imagine a more unusual job than that of an ice sculptor. Thien Minh reports o­n two sculptors’ effort to carve out a market for their cold creations.

Raised in a city in which it never snows, Nguyen Minh Thuan could not have foreseen his future as an ice sculptor. After graduating from Cookery Department of the Tourism Skills Training School in Hanoi, Thuan, 42, found work at the Hanoi Sofitel Plaza Hotel.

To enable Thuan to gain the skills required to cook ata five star hotel, he was assigned to be a cook’s helper, responsible for creating trimmings and garnishes. Seeing that Thuan was dexterous and ambitious, his boss showed him a catalogue of decorative fruit carvings, o­ne chapter of which was devoted to ice sculptures.

Thuan was immediately struck by these sculptures. As an experiment, he carved a few small ice statues and linked them together, then presented them to his boss. This led to Thuan’s first sculpting job, creating a three-meter-tall Merlion - Singapore’s mascot - for a party to celebrate Singapore’s national day.

"That was a tremendous challenge and at first I felt really worried," admits Thuan. "My greatest fear is that I haven’t attended any art classes."

Since ice blocks measure just o­ne meter in length, to create large sculptures Thuan must find ingenious ways to join pieces of ice. He sometimes crafts pegs similar to those used to join furniture. "The ice statue may split apart and collapse at any time if the join aren’t solid," says Thuan.

Tran Minh Long, who works at the Deawoo Hotel in Hanoi, also fell into the profession of ice sculpting by accident. Having worked as an actor and circus performer for Dam San Song and Dance Ensemble, Long left show business to become a driver for the Deawoo. Soon after, he went to South Korea for six months to study ice sculpting.

According to Long, his newfound craft require a talent for drawing and a good imagination. "A block of ice might weight 100kg," says Long. "A sculptor has to be able to take that block and turn it into a soulful statue that embodies the desires of the customer."

Both Long and Thuan use stainless tools imported from overseas. Thuan also relies o­n some traditional Vietnamese chisels to chip out complicated patterns. The sculptor begins by hacking out a rough shape. A simple statue may take several hours to make, while large and complex designs may require for or five day of work.

The finished statues are typically placed o­n ad dining table, so the sculptor must ensure that melting water droplets won’t spill o­nto diners’ plates.

I follow Thuan into a freezer in the Hanoi Sofitel Plaza. Shaking with cold, I watch as Thuan’s hands turn sore and red from handling blocks of ice. The discomfort doesn’t seem to diminish his passion for his work. Perhaps the thrill of seeing his finished sculptures o­n display and observing people’s reactions make up for the discomfort.

Thuan is always looking for fresh inspiration. He dislikes abstract shapes, preferring to sculpt legendary characters like the Goddess of Love, the Fish Fairy, the Gods of Wealth, Happiness and Longevity. "What interests me in this job is that I can freely recreate the beauty I find in legends and transform it into ice," he says.

"There’s a young, wealthy class in Hanoi that always orders ice sculptures for weddings," say Long. "But you can count the number of sculptors in Hanoi o­n your fingertips."

Long doesn’t wait for clients to come up with new ideas. Between orders, he works o­n new designs, from a dragon to Santa Claus to a pair of swans. Despite his lack offormal training, Long’s sculptures are technically brilliant.

"Many people warned me that it would be hard for me to sculpt ice statues without an aptitude for painting," says Thuan. "Luckily, I feel that it’s my destiny to sculpt."

Hired as a cook’s helper, Thuan’s passion for ice sculpture has earned him a new honorary title, as his colleagues at the Sofitel Plaza refer to him as "kitchen artist"

Thien Minh - Heritage Fashion
October - November 2002