A win in the snow for Thailand

And it was the masters of sculpting ice for big Bangkok hotels who claimed the top honours last week at the 64th Sapporo Snow Festival, turning their skilled hands instead to hard-packed snow.

Kusol Boonkobsongserm of the Shangri-La and Amnuaysak Srisuk of the Grand Hyatt Erawan, along with independent ice sculptor Kritsana Wongtes, were named Grand Champions for a work called “The Artist from the Wild”, depicting a mother elephant and her three babies painting a picture of His Majesty the King.

The Thai team topped 10 others from around the world – winning for the fifth time in the Kingdom’s 17 attempts in the competition. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has sponsored a team since the contest’s inception in 1991.

“The TAT started focusing on Japan a long way back because the Japanese are among our top tourists,” says the man who has formed the teams from the start, Kitsana Kaewtumrong, the Tourism Authority’s director of international advertising.

“We wanted to promote Thailand in Japan, and when we learned about this event, we agreed to attend as part of a cultural exchange and to promote Thailand to the world at the same time. 

“In our earliest efforts, no one paid any attention to the Thai team, apart from the Japanese. But we kept entering and picked up a lot of tips and techniques. The Japanese have always been very nice to our team – they always come up and say ‘Ichiban!’ [First!] or ‘Gambatte’ [Keep trying].”

In 2000 the squad realised it would do better with sculptures that properly represented Thailand and showed what it has to share with the world. “That’s when we chose the elephant as our model,” says Kitsana, “and that was the first year we won the Grand Champion title.”

Thailand won again in 2008, 2009 and 2010, becoming the first country to win in three consecutive years. 

Once the Thai sculptors were familiar with the properties of snow, they could apply their architectural and artistic skills. They learned to be careful about how much snow to shave off. Too much snow removed could end up disfiguring or even collapsing the model if the temperature rose or a snowstorm piled on more, while too little could leave them with a giant – and very dull – ice cube.

The sculptures have to be carefully planned in terms of size, dynamics and balance as well as concept, creativity and composition. “They have to show artistic skill, craftsmanship and sophistication in the design,” says Kitsana. “And, on top of everything else, we have to be prepared for unpredictable weather.”

The gifted ice sculptors take on a whole different challenge when it comes to snow. Ice will withstand techniques made for sculpting in marble or granite and display the results immediately, while snow needs time to settle after every alteration. 

“It’s impossible for ice sculptors to win in Sapporo if they have no experience in sculpting snow in the open air,” says Kitsana. 

 “I used to just pick the best ice sculptors in Thailand for the team, but they couldn’t bear the cold and even got painful frostbite. That’s why we have at least one or two ‘veterans’ to advise the newcomers.” 

After a week of long, chilly days and then hours of tension while the judges assessed the entries, the Thai team finally heard the announcement and relaxed. 

“I was very happy that we won the Grand Champion prize,” says Kusol, the team leader. “I felt really relieved, because the other teams’ sculptures were all beautiful. I have to confess that I was very nervous. 

I had no idea which style the judges would like best.

“We set out with our sculpture ‘The Artist from the Wild’ to represent the intelligence of the elephant, which is the symbol of Thailand. They can be taught to do many things. And by painting a picture of the King, they were also showing their loyalty to His Majesty.

“Next year it will be very hard to choose a theme to try and win the title again, but we’ll do our best!”