Meet the architect who is baking award-winning cakes with a 3D printer
Dinara Kasko swapped the building site for the kitchen with astonishing results
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Your support makes all the difference.Ukrainian Dinara Kasko has taken to using her design skills to build tasteful creations in the kitchen
There can be few artisans as original as Dinara Kasko. A Ukrainian architect who originally studied the geometry of buildings and furniture, Dinara embarked on an ambitious mid-career change when she decided to apply the things she’d learnt at university to baking cakes.
“I’ve only been baking for five years,” she says. “I just started out making ordinary cakes, but then I thought, why not try to do something new and special?
“All the cake moulds I had were basic shapes with straight edges, and I began to realise that I could apply my architectural knowledge to making more interesting, different moulds. My husband encouraged me to experiment, and we just went from there. I found some people in my city who could help make moulds for what I was designing, and found out that I could use computer modelling programmes, and a 3D printer, to make my visions come to life.”
The results have been astonishing. A graduate of Kharkov University Architecture School, Dinara’s intricate, precise creations are not mere cakes: they are edible art. Her work was soon appearing on front covers of hip magazines, and attracting hordes of Instagram followers.
For Dinara, being creative is the essence of a rich life. “It makes me happy to try to make something new every day — it is a big part of my life, and very exciting. After eight years as an architect, setting out on this new journey, with completely different aims, I just wanted to be as creative as possible.
“Because of my background, I can’t — and don’t want to — do whatever other chefs do. I only feel comfortable when I’m making something different, something unique to me.”
Trial and error is an important element of what San Miguel Rich List member, Dinara does. “I try lots of things, and they don’t work every time. Sometimes I have to have lots of attempts at something to make it work, to get that final result. And at the end of it, I can make moulds that other people can use, so they can make unique cakes too.”
Her inspirations come from far and wide. As an architect, there’s talk of the “geometric constructing principles as triangulation and the Voronoi diagram”. There’s also biomimicry. “That’s using models, systems, and elements of nature, macro elements in general. It can be anything — fragmentation of expanding shells in spiral herb structure, or the form that bubbles take.”
She is also uplifted by the work of pastry chefs including Guillaume Mabilleau, Julien Alvarez and Nicolas Boussin —and great architects such as Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster and Santiago Calatrava.
As a keen traveller and mother of a three-year-old daughter, Dinara finds that the richness of everyday life, and a keen eye to observe her surroundings, inspire her wherever she goes.
“Whether you’re in the countryside or in the city, there should be something to make you think, as a designer. I’ve been to many countries and each one gives you different ideas. I’m off to America for the first time this year, and I’m also making my first trip to London. That will help expand my horizons even further.
“I take a lot of pictures, and Instagram has opened up a new world to me. I’ve been all around Europe and Asia. I look at both big and small things, wherever I go. They could be big buildings designed by Rem Koolhaas or Le Corbusier, or they could be little things in nature.”
And Dinara believes that a rich life doesn’t require money: the best things in life are free. “There’s my family, but I also love to be with friends, to sing and to dance, and to do any kind of decorative craft. I am happy if I am creating something with my hands. Clothes, or art, or paper modelling. And I love the freedom of being outside, riding a bike. I prefer doing something, having an experience rather than buying possessions.”
There’s one clear exception, however. “I do buy a lot of different tools for making the cakes, and for baking. But I need them to become creative. Of course, I like to be stylish and look good, but being original is more important than fashion.”