Creative scoops

It's quite a journey from an art gallery to a gelato studio, but Vivienne Li has made that leap thanks to the passion that she dedicated to both callings. Sun Ye talks to a most unusual ice-cream maker.

This summer, Vivi Dolce started selling its homemade gelato and almost immediately attracted a base of loyal fans who not only bought the frozen treats but also helped publicize the fledgling business.

Many knew gelato maker Vivienne Li when she was the communications manager for an art gallery at the Beijing 798 Art Zone, and many were taken by surprise when she quit her job and disappeared.

Vivienne Li (center) poses with colleagues while working as an intern at a gelato shop in Italy. Photos provided to China Daily

Hazelnut (above) and berry (below) flavored gelato are among Vivienne Li's creative possibilities.

The slender and vivacious Li had decided to go to Italy to enroll at the famous Carpigiani Gelato University. She did not return until she had earned five diplomas, all related to making that famous Italian sweet.

Less than two months after starting her gelato workshop, Vivi Dolce, Li already had 300 subscribers to her weekly updates on WeChat, where she posts stories about the gelato flavors and the ingredients that go into them.

This modern young woman not only makes use of social media to push her products, she also realizes that the personal touch gives her a competitive edge.

Her creative weekly flavors start with the search for quality ingredients, whether local or imported. She tones down the sweetness for Chinese palates but also nudges her customers into trying unusual flavors.

Early in the week, Li posts the week's flavors online. Bitter orange and dark chocolate for a special treat. Damascus rose for Valentine's Day. An osmanthus gelato for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Coconut pina colada. Japanese ume sake. Mango sorbet.

Once she has her regulars intrigued and hooked into ordering, Li starts making the gelato. Delivery is every Thursday, when Li or her assistant makes the rounds with an icebox filled with tubs of gelato at the back of her SUV to eagerly waiting customers.

In an online posting, Tian Lei rated Vivi Dolce's mint chocolate gelato "yummy!" and added that "it's refreshing mint at first and then full-bodied chocolate, when it melts, it gives off a creamy scent, rich and layered".

Li's gelato skills have earned her professional approval, too, and at one of the capital's top French restaurants, Temple Restaurant Beijing, Michelin three-star guest chef Xavier Pellicer fell in love with Li's black- sesame gelato.

It is part of her growing line of oriental flavors using local, seasonal ingredients, which, Pellicer says, are at the core of any good food.

Li pairs her ingredients mostly by instinct. She goes to a market, sizes up, sniffs, pinches and then trusts her feelings with the fruits that make their way into the ice-cream maker.

"Natural freshness is the essence of gelato," she says. "You judge the fruits best when you're up close."

For her, quality cannot be compromised and her popular mango sorbet is made with fruit from Hainan province.

Her insistence on using the best ingredients may mean that her product is expensive, but Li says she cannot skimp on what goes into her gelato. When mangoes go off-season, for example, she stops using them. It's time for another flavor.

"The great thing about gelato is that it has endless possibilities," she says.

Creative freedom was that one big pull that carried Li from being a communications officer at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art and gallerist at Long March Space to being a gelato artisan.

"I love art, but it was too stressful doing it as a job. Being in the gelato business fits me better. I own the business, get to create what I want and employ all the publicity techniques I know from before."

Strangely enough, Li's first encounter with the Italian confection was in Canada two years ago. On holiday, Li stopped in at a gelato shop.

"There were about 30 flavors that I had never even heard of, and that really opened my eyes. More importantly, I was immediately attracted to the cozy, family-like atmosphere, where several generations of a family could sit together and share gelato."

Li became even more convinced after she went through the courses in Italy.

"The teachers are all award-winning masters, but they're content with maintaining one small family shop." Li had found the lifestyle she wanted.

She plans neither franchise nor expansion and is currently more concerned with sourcing new ingredients and her own creations with the universal gelato formula, a calculated mixture of milk, fruit, syrup and glucose that vary slightly to suit each flavor.

But as Li says, there are two crucial ingredients that cannot be replaced. The "love" that goes into the making, and the "enjoyment" that goes into the eating.

Contact the writer at sunye@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 11/29/2013 page22)