As per Rousseau’s on going work with the Ice Hotel we were invited to be part of an International team of Artists and Designers to create a huge Ice and Snow sculpture for a private showin the Grand Palais, Paris during Paris Fashion Week.
So I mentioned that I was out in the Arctic Circle. Well here is the result of INSA and Ben Rousseau’s latest collaborative work.
May I present to you: the INSA x ROUSSEAU ICE HOTEL ice suite.
“In a continuation of their shared love of high heel aesthetics the room’s main feature is two huge snow legs descending from the ceiling, wearing a pair of gigantic ice heels. Each heel, at over six foot high and two tonnes in weight was hand-carved from pure natural ice harvested from the Torne river.
Between the legs is the bed, crowned by an ecclesiastical arched window featuring an engraving of one of INSAs signature line patterns.
The rest of the room resembles something somewhere between a house of worship, gallery or boutique with more yonic arches housing smaller heel sculptures and other symbols of commercial wealth. ”
So that’s the room- now here are a few shots from the extremely taxing but very satisfying build and some from the trip. It was a truly amazing experience in a magical place.
Started off as just a plain shell of a room.
Along with chainsaws and ice chisels we routed INSA’s leg pattern into 10cm think ice blocks and filled the grooves with fresh snow to really enhance the contrast of the artwork.
The heart was one of 5 mini ice sculptures housed in the arches set into the walls of the room Also here you can get a nice clear view of one of the six foot high heels.
And yes we did join these guys in the crazy Scandinavian pastime of running naked through knee-high snow at minus 35 degrees.
Along with the other 18 amazing new artist suites this room is now available to stay in and will be untill it melts away around April this year….
Even in the far flung reaches of northern Sweden and in the most impractical of places, ladies are still rocking their INSA HEELS….
Thanks a lot to everyone involved in making this an awesome place and an awesome trip. And also thanks to Adrian Nordenbourg and Photo Big Ben for some of these great pictures.
Ice structure around bed with fibre optic lighting inon 3 colour slow change sequence, Control panel or table, frosted and lit with laser pod lighting pods designed by Chris Levine. All walls, ceiling and floor from snow.