in ice is Louis Manzoni at
Art in Ice, Inc.
(Brian MacDonald)
Company: Art in Ice Inc.
Owner: George A. O’Palenick
Location: Post Road, Warwick
Type of business: Ice sculpting
Year founded: 1987
Employees: 5
Annual revenues: WND
With chisels hanging from the walls, and power tools placed atop the workbench George O’Palenick’s Post Road workshop looks like that of any other craftsman.
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There is just one glaring difference — a giant walk-in freezer dominates the
space.
That’s okay, says O’Palenick, owner of Art in Ice Inc, because for years he had a freezer that was too small, and in the ice carving business that can be something of a liability.
“As soon as I bought it I knew it was going to be too small,” he laughs. “But I still have it. I use it for the overflow.”
O’Palenick started his business out of a small corner in his garage nearly 15 years ago.
“I turned a hobby into a business,” he said. “It was all about the timing.”
A chef by trade, O’Palenick said he was first introduced to the art of ice carving by some colleagues. In fact, he said it’s a hobby that coincides with his love of preparing food.
“It’s basically a very large centerpiece for your table, and it’s edible,” he said. “The two are quite related.”
A full-time professor at Johnson & Wales University, O’Palenick said that when he first started the business he did more demonstrating than selling.
“In the early days I needed to get people interested in what I was doing,” he said. “So I would demonstrate for them and then give them the piece. I didn’t make money right away.”
His strategy paid off. Today, he runs one of the largest ice sculpting businesses in Rhode Island, using “well over” 300,000 pounds of ice in a 12 month period.
“I used to do a lot of advertising with radio, television and print,” he said. “But a lot of it is word of mouth. Referrals are what brings business.”
Sixty percent of O’Palenick’s business is in the wedding market, while the other 40 percent comes in the form of corporate clients. On this day, he is working on a four-foot ice bunny that will be delivered to a local country club.
“Easter is like their opening day,” he said. “And while we started with weddings I think it’s important to constantly expand your customer base.”
What also helps, O’Palenick said, is the company’s ability to deliver the piece. With one refrigerated truck, and the ability to shrink-wrap pieces transported in one of his non-refrigerated truck, he said the company is able to deliver its product in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
“On Saturday we can do 14 stops,” he said. “With five trucks doing that we can get to customers pretty much anywhere.”
According to O’Palenick, a carving made from a single block of ice costs between $250 and $300. Most of the company’s products are made as single block carvings, but he said the company can also produce multiple block creations. Earlier this year the company created a castle in Maine using more than 1,000 blocks of ice.
O’Palenick said most of the company’s products are created by tracing a pattern onto the ice, carving it out, and then making it three-dimensional.
“I’d like to say that I am a real artist, but I don’t really consider myself one,” he said. “Louie, one of the guys that works for me, he is definitely an artist.”
O’Palenick said he has patterns for just about every occasion, though he admits he has had some “memorable” requests.
“When I first started I had a couple come in that was getting married,” he said. “They had a dachshund dog that wasn’t allowed to attend the service. So they asked me to make one out of ice and they put it on the altar with a bow around its neck.”
Traditionally, O’Palenick said his busy season has gone from April to November, but this year he was busy straight through as the result of things like “Ice Fire” – an ice carving competition held in Providence last month that he helped organize. O’Palenick, a member of the National Ice Carving Association, said this was the first year a competition like this was held. There are, however, competitions for students and he does take a group every year.
“You learn a lot by watching what others do, and seeing their technique,” he said.
With the slogan, “You’ll melt when you see them” painted on each of his five trucks it’s not hard to see why O’Palenick has become so successful carving his success out of ice. In fact, he said it is his sense of humor and his inability to say no that have helped sustain his “hobby turned business” for almost 14 years.
“I never say no,” he laughed. “People can depend on me and they know that.”
