Ice cream shaped like tiles at Thailand's famous Temple of Dawn captures imagination

BANGKOK: Exclusively crafted for the capital city’s famous landmark the Temple of Dawn, a new ice cream brand in Thailand merging taste and design with art and culture is finding viral success. 

Dubbed Flower of Dawn, the ice lolly is a pilot project of local ice cream brand Pop Icon. It depicts intricate patterns of colourful tiles that adorn the temple’s stupa and comes in two flavours – Thai milk tea and coconut milk with butterfly pea.

The ice cream was the brainchild of Pop Icon’s owner Namtan Sirinya, who devoted nearly two years to developing and finessing her favourite dessert. She combined her love for Thai art, culture and history with her wish to promote tourism at the historical site. 

“Ice cream is a good medium. It’s easily approachable. When people eat it, it could stir their curiosity and bring them closer to art and culture as well as the murals around the stupa,” said Namtan, who made about 40 trips to the temple before the product launch.

Locally known as Wat Arun, the temple has stood for centuries on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. It is renowned for its stupa, whose architectural magnificence is ornately decorated with colourful tiles and pieces of Chinese porcelain. 

Following its launch in May, Flower of Dawn became an instant hit among temple visitors. Photos and video clips of tourists eating and posing with the ice cream have flooded social media. 

In just over a month, the ice cream has stirred up public interest in the traditional decoration around the religious site.

“When people visit the Temple of Dawn, they see its architectural grandeur. They may take a few photos with it and leave,” said Namtan.

“But a part of the temple’s ‘DNA’ is the tile mosaics encasing its stupa. That’s why we chose to incorporate into the ice cream the tiled patterns, which may seem so familiar to visitors they are sometimes overlooked.”

AESTHETIC APPRECIATION THROUGH ICE CREAM

The Flower of Dawn ice cream features patterns of tiles and Chinese porcelain that visitors can find around the stupa. The design was aimed to make them curious about its origin and bring them closer to the actual craftsmanship of the ancient time.

Its creator hopes this process would encourage people to appreciate the aesthetic value of the Temple of Dawn more deeply.

“Everything on the ice cream can be found in the temple. So, visitors can do something like a treasure hunt and seek where exactly these patterns came from,” said Namtan.

Since May, tourists and locals have flocked to the temple’s coffee shop – Arun Cafe. This is the only venue where they can buy the ice cream, whose massive popularity means it is often sold out in one day.

“I really like it. It’s delicious,” said a tourist from Brazil, Carol Young.

“The design is really interesting. It looks like the tiles of the temple. I think it’s clever in the way they do it. The colour is great and the flavour is tasteful,” she added.

Her friend Clara Kim told CNA the design made her want to look more closely at the tiles. She was also happily surprised to find a hidden message on the stick after finishing the ice cream. It reads “You look amazing today.”.

“I really like it. I think it’s something that will attract more people to the temple – to try the ice cream,” she said.

Flower of Dawn is currently available in two colours. 

The coconut milk and butterfly pea flavour comes in blue and carries with it the scent of Thai fragrant candles used to smoke traditional desserts. The choice of the colour was inspired by the blue of Chinese porcelain while the flavour and fragrance represent traditional Thai cuisine.

The Thai milk tea flavour, on the other hand, comes in orange. It is a homage to one of the most popular drinks in Thailand.

“As for the outline of the ice cream, it came from a traditional Thai decorative pattern called Prajam Yam, which is used for protection against evil,” Namtan explained, adding it can also be found around the temple.

According to her, the ice cream is popular among both Thais and foreigners and she plans to expand the product line in the near future.

“As a Thai person, I can’t help feeling proud when Thai art and culture is accepted and sought after,” she said.