|
|
Look for OCC Alum Randy Finch in the Freezer
Randy Finch’s business is enough to give anyone the chills. The 1990 grad of OCC’s culinary arts program is co-owner of Ice Sculptures, Ltd., in Grand Rapids.
Even before he started at OCC, Randy was interested in ice sculpting. Four years of college-prep architectural drafting helped him understand the importance of detailed drawings for a quality layout and a safely constructed work. A set of ice carving tools from his parents got him going on an ice-carving career in Georgia following high school.
| "When I returned to Michigan, I began attending
OCC’s culinary arts program, and the first semester there, I won second
place in an ice carving competition," Randy says." All of the competitions
OCC students were encouraged to enter really helped me understand how to
develop a project to perfection," he says. After graduation, Randy went to work at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids where his specialty was ice carving. That’s where he met Derek Maxfield, who would eventually become his business partner. After a few years in Grand Rapids, Randy moved to the Virgin Islands. "During those couple years, I only did one ice carving. |
 OCC grad Randy Finch (left) and his partner, Derek Maxfield, pose in front of the ice sculpturee they created for the 2002 ice festival held in Plymounth each winter. |
The ice had to be shipped in from Puerto Rico, and we ordered four blocks to be sure we’d end up with two good ones," he remembers.
Missing the opportunities to carve that he’d had in the north, Randy returned to Grand Rapids, where he and Derek began their ice carving business. "We’d take our bags of chisels and our chain saw, and travel from location to location to carve our ice sculptures."
In 1994, the pair began to sculpt at their own facility and distribute ice carvings throughout Michigan and the United States, packed carefully in insulated foam boxes with dry ice.
Randy says they’ve built their entire reputation on the quality of their work, because to him "the artist IS the business." Looking for ways to enhance quality, Randy and Derek decided to computerize. They design the sculpture on the computer in detail using a CAD-type program, then send those plans to a computerized router located right inside the company’s large freezer. Randy says that this process of careful design and computer numerical controlled (CNC) computer carving provides quality and consistency to their work. "For example, I can spend two weeks designing the perfect swan in great detail, then have that file available for future customers."
Their attention to quality has paid off. Randy’s currently working on a college text, Ice Sculpting the Modern Way. And the company also gained national recognition this year for its "Cool Hall" featured on the Ripley’s Believe It or Not television program: "We designed a full-size working pool table out of ice in our freezer. We made ice cues and balls, a cue rack and even a juke box," Randy says.
Pretty cool business, don’t you think?