Phil Hurst (right) is a Michelangelo of ice. He runs Your Chef Custom Ice Sculpturing in Westmont. When he’s not turning ice cubes into art, Hurst, 40, lives in Burr Ridge with his wife, HaSun, and three children, Ken, 10; Kasey, 8; and Phil Jr., 6. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.
Q. Why does working with ice appeal to you?
A. It’s creative. That’s the reason I went to chef school, because I always liked art.
Q. How long have you run your business?
A. For seven years now we’ve done nothing but ice sculpture.
Q. How did you learn the trade?
A. Like most people, I started out being a chef. You learn it at chef school. Some people like it so much they keep going with it.
For 10 years, I was a chef at a hotel in the Virgin Islands, but the schedule, six days a week and 12 hours a day, was hard once we had kids. So I took a chef job at Midway Airport and came to the Chicago area. After Midway Airlines folded, reducing business at the airport, I needed another job. The main reason I started my own business was to have time to see the kids.
Q. Do your kids get to try their hand at ice sculpting?
A. I let them do a little, but you have to be careful. We have some powerful tools.
Q. You mean you don’t do it all with just a chisel?
A. No, we have chain saws, die grinders, high-speed drills. We use an iron to smooth over some edges. And we freeze our own ice. We have tanks for freezing ultraclear ice by circulating the water as it’s frozen. The impurities come to the top and they can be removed. The blocks come out all one size and we cut them to order.
Q. How much does an ice sculpture cost?
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A. Most are in the range of $200 to $300, depending on the intricacy and complexity.
Q. Do you get unusual requests?
A. Oh, yeah. One of the most unusual orders we got recently was for ice shaped like a luge. You can drink out of it. Some people want ice cars. Then there are cartoon characters. And we can copy pretty much anybody’s logo. The main thing is parties, but a lot of people are ordering sculptures for the front of the houses, such as nativity scenes at Christmas time.
Q. What’s your busiest time?
A. It’s pretty steady all year long, but the busiest days are New Year’s Eve and Mother’s Day. The busiest month is probably May, when there are a lot of weddings along with Mother’s Day, and December, the big Christmas parties. Things slow down in January and February.