From Disney to Coolhaus: Natasha Case uses ice cream to bring architecture to the masses
From an unlikely combination of interests in food and architecture emerges a new food truck concept
The birth of the "hipster ice cream truck" has Coolhaus to thank, whose co-founder Natasha Case (M. Arch '08) allowed her architecture background to inspire the truck's artfully gourmet creations, offerings that go beyond the standard of ice cream sandwich.
"The gig: Natasha Case, 33, runs ice cream sandwich company Coolhaus, which she founded with partner Freya Estreller in 2009. The duo’s whimsical, architecture-inspired creations are available in grocery stores — in packaged form — and in bricks-and-mortar Coolhaus stores in Culver City and Pasadena, where customers can pick the cookie and ice cream combinations. The company is staying true to its food-truck roots, with rolling dispensaries in Los Angeles, Dallas and New York.
L.A. start: Case, a third-generation Angeleno, grew up in Sherman Oaks. Her father was an architect; her mother, an animator at Disney. Case moved north to study architecture, Italian and urban planning at UC Berkeley but returned for her master’s in architecture at UCLA
“Farchitecture”: Case said she had a “lightbulb moment” when one of her Berkeley professors criticized a creation she had made, describing it as a layer cake. “I remember thinking, why is that a bad thing?” she said. Case had been searching for a way to make architecture more accessible to the public, she said, and realized she could do that by combining food and architecture (hence, “farchitecture”). Her creations attracted crowds even back then. “It made me think I was on to something,” she said."— Nina Agrawal, Mar. 24, 2017
Read the full article at the L.A. Times website.