This family-run company is behind Drake's massive ice sculpture

After Drake's monolithic water ice shaping took o'er a parking lot in downtown Toronto, it had some people asking the oppugn: 'How on earth did 3,500 blocks of ice end up there?'

It turns out, it took about 20 truckloads of ice blocks made by a family-run business in Huron County, about 50 kilometres north of London, Ont.

The slick marketing move from global hip-hop sensation Drake was the latest tease for his upcoming album, Iceman. The installation attracted crowds of fans, some using blow torches, sledgehammers and pickaxes to search for launch date hidden inside the ice: May 15.

Iceculture Inc. Is based in the community of Hensall — hosting a population of about 1,100 people in the heart of farming country.

"I think Iceculture has a reputation for dealing with large projects and for having large amounts of ice available," Bayley said, noting a track record of creating large-scale ice sculptures shipped around the world. "We are set up for those type of big projects."

Bayley said her father started the family ice business back in 1991 making ice blocks and ice punch bowls, but grew from there to larger events and manufacturing.

Each of the ice blocks weighed about 300 lb., and were a uniform size, she said: 50 centimetres by 101 centimetres by 25 centimetres. They were each loaded up on trucks individually from the business in Hensall and put together in Toronto to form the structure.

The ice isn't the typical kind you'd find in a freezer. It is "crystal clear" — typically used for ice carving or ice sculpting ice — and made through a process called directional freezing, she said.

"By freezing it from the bottom up, the air is pushed out of it and that keeps it crystal clear. It also makes it very hard," Bayler said.

"It's really the clarity that creates the magic of it. You could do it with cloudy ice. It would melt faster. It would maybe have less awe attached to it."

Iceculture got the request for the ice the "old fashioned way," she said. It was a phone call from Mawg Design, a marketing firm they work with, that looped them in.

The creative direction and big vision for the installation came from Drake's team, while the team at Mawg created the structure and Iceculture provided all the ice.

"There's sort of a very captivating aesthetic to our ice blocks. It's why ice sculptures are so popular a medium for expressing almost anything — including album releases," Bayley said.

The company has made everything from ice lounges in places like Thailand and Greece, to a drivable ice truck for Canadian Tire to promote a cold weather battery, she said. They use tools like chainsaws, chiesels, CNC machines and bandsaws to create the sculptures.

Seeing Drake's ice structure getting removed earlier than planned was a bit disappointing, Bayley said.

Fire crews were brought in Tuesday evening to spray warm water on the blocks citing public safety concerns under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act. Eventually, an industrial cleaning company took over removing the ice.

"I can tell you it was hard to watch it being melted. I'm used to ice disappearing. I've done this for a very long time, but this one did feel a bit early and a bit disappointing to see it go," she said.

But Bayley is still looking forward to what could be possible next.

"I think there is hopefully some very exciting potential with the fact that the album isn't even here yet. So I hope that we'll have another opportunity to work with him and Mawg Design on something really unique," she said.

"I couldn't imagine what creative they will come up with."

Drake's latest publicity stunt brings fan chaos to Toronto

Drake’s ice block stunt creates fan chaos in downtown Toronto

Producer

Files from Matt Allen

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