Victor Dagatan

Coming Up

Today, Victor Dagatan is Ice Sculpture Coach of Club Coupe du Monde Team USA. The role sits between instruction and execution, and Dagatan operates in that middle ground with focus. In ice work, each cut carries weight. The hand has to commit before the surface gives up its shape.

Where They Are Now

He serves as Ice Sculpture Coach for Club Coupe du Monde Team USA. That position depends on more than handling the material. It also depends on training the eye to see what ice can become, and the instinct to keep a form under control while it is still changing. Dagatan’s work points to that balance: exact enough to hold, restrained enough to let the material do its part.

Signature

Victor's signature dishes include chocolate lion. The piece shows a different register of form, but the same concern with finish. Chocolate lion carries weight in the name alone: a sculpted idea that relies on shape, presence, and a clear read at first glance. For Dagatan, it extends the same discipline seen in ice into another medium.

In Their Words “Paete" translates to "chisel" in English.” “So, carving and chiseling is in my blood.” The language here ties tool to place and practice. A chisel is not just equipment; it names a tradition of carving that Dagatan places inside his own work. Read that way, the line “in my blood” is less about romance than continuity: a craft carried forward, learned through repetition, and kept alive in the hand.