A Big B

In April 2005, were asked to construct a five metre high letter "B" in Nice, South France. The event was held by entrepreneur Phillip Green at the exclusive Cap Ferrat Hotel. After carefully planning the huge structure, we arrived on site along with six tonnes of ice. From start to finish the job took 7 hours to complete, with the sculpture lasting over 30 hours.

Cape Farewell

In November 2005, a team of leading British artists asked us to produce some abstract ice sculptures for their upcoming project.

Their vision was to raise awareness of climate change through a four day exhibition outside the Bodlean library at Oxford University. We worked with the artists to produce a series of 2.5 metre tall ice columns along with two suspended blocks of ice with pebbles encapsulated inside.

The whole exhibition was a great success and the ice looked magnificent for the entire four days.

Finlandia

This extraordinary photograph by Duncan Sim was commissioned for Finlandia Vodka to a design by our studio. The shot was taken on location in the frozen wastes of Northern Finland within the Arctic Circle, in an area inhabited only by border guards and reindeer herdsmen. It took two weeks working from dawn til dusk, with the temperature never rising above -12 degrees and sometimes dropping as low as -40 degrees.

The ice for the sculpture was cut straight from the lake on which it stands, and fixed using water which had to be collected through a hole drilled two metres deep. Although the ice appears to be white, in fact it was perfectly clear, the opacity being created by millions of tiny bubbles inside it. These bubbles were responsible for the natural turquoise tint to to the ice sculpture, which the photograph shows.

Honda Quad Bike

This photograph taken by Jonathon Knowles is the end result of weeks of planning and hard work. We were asked to place a Quad Bike inside a huge block of ice as part of their new advertising campaign. The block weighed six tonnes and took three weeks to prodcue. Lifting specialists were hired to move the block to a studio. Once we removed the exterior walls we were extremely pleased with the final outcome as the block consisted of many tiny bubbles and facets which look great on camera. Throughout the shoot day we carved away the ice to reveal the Quad. An engineer from Honda, who was also present, changed the oil and managed to start the machine after two attempts.

Nike

At the beginning of the year we were asked by PR company Rosie Lee to produce four large ice blocks as part of Nike's new product launch.

Each block weighed one tonne and inside we placed a Nike trainer from pervious years showing the progression of their technology throughout the nineties. Once the blocks were finished we delivered them to Brick Lane early on a Saturday morning. They lasted well over two days and attracted much attention from the general public over the course of a busy shopping weekend.

Norwich Ice Sculpture

In December 2005 we worked closely with the Norwich City Council to provide their main shopping area with 12 life size ice sculptures all linked to the Nativity scene. The sculptures were placed around the city centre for the general public to discover as they finished off their Christmas shopping.

Throughout the day we also produced a live demonstration, producing life size sculptures of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. We always invite the public to get up close to the sculptures, and also to "have a go" at ice sculpting themselves.

Samsung

A mammoth project organised by Urban Productions, this ice room was created specially on the hottest day of the year in old Billingsgate Fish Market.

Using 22 tonnes of ice, we built an entire contemporary loft-style apartment including living room, bathroom, kitchen and dining area. The details had to be perfect from the style of the taps to the keyboard on the laptop.

The PR event was a huge success with journalists and press turning up to cover Samsung's home appliances all day long.

In order to cope with the temperature on the day, it took place in the old ice well of the building where all the fish coming into London used to be stored.

Whirlpool

For this TV advertisement we created an ice cave on set. Hundreds of stalagmites and stalagtites were hung from the ceiling and fixed to the floor to produce a beautiful backdrop for the actors to interact with.