Ice carving combines students’ talents

Seniors Robbie Harrell and Stu Lombardo are making business out of a Minnesota staple—ice.

Their business, Minnesota Ice Sculptures, was launched in July, and the duo have started carving on their new machine.

Harrell, an entrepreneurship major, and Lombardo, a mechanical engineering major, said they saw a business opportunity and teamed up. Lombardo designed their carving tool, and Harrell drew up the business plans.

“We just started out doing deliveries on the side. We did a lot of footwork,” Harrell said. “We saw a lot of potential in the market … so we said, ‘We can do this.’

Harrell said. “We saw a lot of potential in the market … so we said, ‘We can do this.’

Robbie Harrell

We would start our day out smashing ice sculptures, we had no clue what this would become. We were just taking a hammer, smashing ice sculptures. We were just kids, we are no clue what this would become.