Art And Ice Cream Will Save The World At This New Zealand Confectionery

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By  Aimee Levitt

It's hard to argue that there's any ice cream that's not beautiful, but Giapo, an ice cream parlor in Auckland, New Zealand, has elevated its confections past beauty into art.

"We didn't just want to change the recipe of ice cream," Giapo Grazioli, who co-owns the shop with his wife Annarosa, told USA Today. "We wanted to change the function of ice cream." The store's motto is "Art will save the world."

But don't just take their word for it:

The Graziolis began their innovations in 2011, back when Instagram and Instagram selfies were still a novelty. (Oh, those innocent days!) They created a "selfie cone," an ice cream cone topped with an elaborate chocolate picture frame. Customers immediately got it and, unprompted by the Graziolis, began posting selfies with the cone on Instagram. A legend was born.

Since then, the Graziolis have created a giant squid cone (in honor of a popular exhibit in Auckland's Te Papa museum), an ice cream model of the Auckland Harbor Bridge, and, in honor of Valentine's Day, two cones that form a pikorua, a Māori symbol of the bonds of relationships, when placed together.

Giapo Grazioli believes that people have to expand their horizons when it comes to the way they eat ice cream. Consequently, Giapo the ice cream parlor serves wearable lips, scoops of ice cream on piles of French fries (which sounds amazing, by the way) and stuffed inside Christmas crackers, Yorkshire pudding, and parāoa parai, a Māori fried bread (also sounds amazing). And, of course, its own parody of the $120,000 Art Basel banana.

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