Art
Chocolate by Design
BY ANGELA MATUA
AMATUA@QNS.COM
When you walk into Sugarcube, a
dessert and coffee shop that opened in
Long Island City last year, you’ll notice
that many of the desserts have intricate
geometric designs.
Founded by architect Peter Zaharatos
at 10-16 50th Ave., the dessert spot
relies heavily on 3-D printers to design
its creations. The artist behind the designs
is Hyobin Chung, a Long Island
City resident who has a background in
toy design.
Chung, who graduated from the
Fashion Institute of Technology with a
degree in fine arts and toy design, said
she was “always the weird one in a group
thinking outside the box and constantly
wanting to create and change.”
Her background in toy design helped
inform her process as an art developer
for Sugarcube, where she helps create
the offerings such as chocolate bars
and bon-bons. Even the plates that the
desserts are served on are created using
a 3-D printer.
Chung sketches her designs using
computer software and creates the silicon
mold using a 3-D printer. Once the
design is printed, she pours the chocolate
into the mold. Once the confection
is cast, Chung applies the decorations.
36 SEPTEMBER 2017 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
“For the interactive plates design, my
process begins with me thinking, ‘What
else can I do to make dessert time more
fun and unique?’” she said. “I have a
crazy sugar tooth that brought me to
numerous other dessert places where I
get new ideas being a customer myself.”
The plates, which can take a couple
of days to a month to design and print,
are “the toy of the culinary world.”
One of the plates, called “the fountain,”
include small trench-like openings
that collect the fillings of certain
desserts. The bakery also hosts “Sugar
Cube Proposition,” an interactive event
where attendees can use 3-D printers
to create their own dessert.
One night, attendees witnessed
and participated in the Ekmek syrup
entrance. They poured syrup in a 3-Dprinted
“syrup entrance.” The syrup
then fell into a Kadaifi-based (Greek
shredded-wheat pastry) dessert.
“My knowledge of three-dimensional
forms and ability to build narrative story
as a toy designer really allowed me to
bring the confectionery ingredients into
a new dimension as interactive playful
art objects.”
Chung’s favorite project to work on
was also the most high-profile. She created
the black historical figures chocolate
featured in a “Saturday Night Live”
Valentine’s Day sketch earlier this year.
