The Project

IRON SHARK was the vision of Dean Gibson (Chocolatier) , Jon Pryer (Industrial Designer) and Shane Williams (Videographer/Photographer). The Iron Shark is the imagineering of a 19th-century submarine in the style of the science fiction of Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe and H. G. Wells. This chocolate time machine takes us back to a world where steam was the new punk and the Nautilus roamed the imagination. We see the Iron Shark nearing completion of the slipway of some industrious maritime port with her inner workings exposed like a museum cross-sectional model. Gears, pistons and cams impart propulsion, for a voyage of exploration into the uncharted deep.

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The exciting part about this project is that aimed to achieve a new world record for the most moving pieces (29) of a chocolate sculpture and the largest (2.5 metres long) kinetic chocolate sculpture of an animal, ever created in the world. Every cog, screw, shaft and fin had been engineered from chocolate using chainsaws, lathes, CNC cutter, and other tools treated with food-grade oils. The team had spent months planning, designing, building 3D models and refining the construction methodology so that the end product came together seamlessly.

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The shark made from 100% high quality Italian Irca chocolate was fully edible and...yes it did move all 29 parts!