Snow Business is a provider of artificial snow for various entertainment industries.[1][2][3] The company was founded by Darcey Crownshaw in 1982.[4] Crownshaw was working in the paper industry when a production unit filming The Last Days of Pompeii for ABC-TV placed an order with his employers for three quarters of a ton of shredded grey cellulose paper to use as artificial volcanic ash.[5] The firm would not deliver less than 20 tons so Crownshaw fulfilled the order himself using the padding from Jiffy bags.[6] Crownshaw later supplied the same production unit with paper snow, and spotting a gap in the market established Snow Business.[4]
 | |
| Company type | Public limited company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1982 |
| Founder | Darcey Crownshaw |
| Headquarters | Stroud, Gloucestershire, England |
Number of locations | 25 |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Artificial snow and winter effects for TV & Film, Visual Merchandising & Events |
| Website | www |
The company produces over 160 different types of artificial snow as well as frost, ice, snowballs, snowmen, icicles, igloos and icebergs.[7][8] Film credits include Band of Brothers, Die Another Day, The Day After Tomorrow, the Harry Potter series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and The Golden Compass.[9][10]
On 23 November 2006 Snow Business International set a Guinness World Record for the largest area covered with continuously falling artificial snow, covering the New Bond Street, Bond Street and Old Bond Street areas of London simultaneously.[11][12] The area measured 12,462.78 m2 (134,148 ft2).[13]
References
edit- ^ Miles, Lucy (16 April 2000). "Snowman's fake flakes a real winner". Sunday Mercury. Birmingham. p. 15.
- ^ "No business like snow business". London Evening Standard. London. 28 September 2001. p. 27.
- ^ "How Darcey's idea has just snowballed: Everyone loves that first magical snowfall – so imagine earning your living from creating winter wonderlands for film and television". Gloucestershire Echo. Cheltenham. 21 August 2010. p. 6.
- ^ a b Crewe, Candida (9 December 2000). "Someone's got to do it". The Times. London.
- ^ Sweet, Matthew (22 December 2001). "THE SNOWMAN: Want to Turn Oxfordshire into a Winter Wonderland or Carpet St Pancras in Virgin Powder? Call Dave Crownshaw, the Movie Magician Who Makes It Snow All Year Round". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013 – via HighBeam Research.
- ^ de Bruxelles, Simon (18 May 1999). "Movies pay millions for the right sort of snow". The Times. London. p. 15.
- ^ "There's Snow Business Like". Western Mail. Cardiff. 30 December 2002.[dead link]
- ^ Greenbaum, Hilary; Rubinstein, Dana (17 February 2012). "Who Made That Artificial Snow?". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ^ "Movie world experts make the first snowman of the season out of real snow". Western Daily Press. Bristol. 19 October 2013. p. 10.
- ^ Varma, Anuji (10 January 2010). "ICE bit of business". Sunday Mercury. Birmingham. p. 4.
- ^ Elliott, Caroline (22 December 2011). "There's no business like Snow Business". Engineering & Technology. London. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ^ Burke, Maria (20 December 2011). "Let it snow..." Society of Chemical Industry. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ^ "Largest area covered by artificial snowfall". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
Further reading
edit- "There's no business like Snow Business". BBC. November 2002. Article about the company's work on James Bond movie Die Another Day.
- "No business like Snow Business". BBC. April 2014. Interview with Darcey Crownshaw.