Prima Chakrabandhu na Ayudhya

Could there be anything to lick the life of an ice-cream designer?

It all started as a fun activity in her family. Prima Chakrabandhu na Ayudhya has enjoyed making ice cream with her father since she was a little girl.

Later in life, after finishing her studies in industrial design, a bright idea brought the two things together.

"Design is not just limited to furniture or other kinds of products. Design is all around us," Prima says. "So why don't we design unique ice cream, to identify special events and restaurants?"

That was the beginning of an unusual marriage between creative design and ice-cream making. Now, Prima has become a young ice-cream designer.

Creating ice cream can be fun

As an ice-cream designer, Prima has to work with flavours, aromas, textures and colours. She must strive for visual impact and even decide how her creations should be served. Every melting moment has to be approached differently, according to a customer's requirements and budget, and how long she has to do the job.

When she designs other products, Prima, 27, has only to create a design according to a customer's specifications and submit it. But with ice cream, design is only half the job. She still has to make the ice cream. She has ice-cream machines at home, and importantly her dad works behind the scenes as a kind of quality controller.

"It's a job where we get immediate feedback. We look forward to the moment when people put the ice cream in their mouths and taste it. It's very exciting and satisfying," she says with a laugh.

Designing ice cream is different

Like other designers, Prima gets details of what her customers want. Then she has to think of concepts, present her plans to the customer, work on the recipe and finally make the finished product.

"Other designers might submit a sketch of a concept. I serve my customers an 'edible sketch', for them to taste," she says, and instead of working in metal or wood, with fancy joints and angles, she has to know all about whipping cream and mixtures of egg and milk.

"It's the same working process and design principles, but the materials are different."

As well as taste, texture, and visual impact Prima also has to consider cleanliness and safety.

"It's not like designing, say, a notebook. At worst a notebook might cut your hand. But it won't make anyone ill. Ice cream has to be eaten, so we have to take great care with pasteurisation and other things," she says.

XTRA

Sweet inspiration

>> Prima has a bachelor's degree in industrial design with honours from Chulalongkorn University. She won a scholarship to work in the design department of Fabrica Communication Research Centre, supported by Benetton, in Treviso, Italy. As well as creating her ice cream, she now works as a stationary designer and a writer for Thai magazines.

>> If you want some unique and very

special ice cream, visit www.icedea.net or www.firstandbefore.wordpress.com.