Ron Hokanson
Detroit area
About me, huh? I assure you, "me" is my least favorite subject! Okay, what to share?
I began what would become my professional life in the kitchen at the age of 15 when I secured a job as a dishwasher within bicycle distance of my home. Once I had (blissfully) advanced out of the tank and into prep, I would elect to apply on each successive job for the "Tourant" position as I wanted to learn every station in the kitchen.
Armed with a strong artistic sense and a juvinile love for fine scale modelling, I would eventually encounter ice carving, tallow and fruit sculpture and the very fine and meticulous cake designs of Josepf Lambeth and Eddie Spence, cake decorator extrodinaire to the British Royal family.
As my years in a chef's coat became decades, I was routinely assigned the post of "Chef Decorateur", charged with elaborate buffet presentations and showpieces set in countless mediums ranging from chocolate and pulled and blown sugar to intricate (but timeless) Royal Icing string work (bridges and extensions, rings with lattice and lattice billows). Pastiallge, airbrushing and mold casting became as central to my life and work as fine Japanese steel.
A dedicated member of IAMPETH (International Association of Master Penman, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting), my great avocation is replicating the penmanship of the 17th and 18th Centuries.
Currently employed with a private catering company, past employers have included the Boca Raton Hotel and Club, Omni Hotels International, Sheraton, Hilton and private country clubs in venues ranging from Miami and Manhattan to the greater Detroit area.
I cannot recall how many men and women of true and genuine, even world-class talent, have had a hand in grooming me into the crafstman I am today. While most have surely passed on by this point, their ghosts will haunt me forever and for that I thank them and labor each day to honor their memory and supreme standards to the very best of my abilities.
The industry has not been an easy one by any measure, but I really can't imagine a world in which I was employed in any other capacity.
Please review my works at RWHokanson.com!