In a Newcastle art studio, an epic chocolate sculpture project is underway. A collaboration between chocolatier Dean Gibson, industrial designer Jon Pryer and videographer Shane Williams, the 150kg moving sculpture, Iron Shark, is trying to break a world record for the most moving pieces of a chocolate sculpture and the largest kinetic chocolate sculpture of an animal, ever created in the world.

Every cog, screw, shaft and fin will be engineered from chocolate using chainsaws, lathes, CNC cutter, and other tools treated with food-grade oils. The team have spent months planning, designing, building 3D models and refining the construction methodology so that the end product comes together seamlessly.

The Iron Shark is the Imagineering of a 19th-century submarine in the style of the science fiction of Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe and H. G. Wells. This chocolate time machine takes us back to a world where steam was the new punk and the Nautilus roamed the imagination. We see the Iron Shark nearing completion of the slipway of some industrious maritime port with her inner workings exposed like a museum cross-sectional model. Gears, pistons and cams impart propulsion, for a voyage of exploration into the uncharted deep, coil and reciprocate in anticipation of the launch. Only the figures of workers going about their challenging tasks give life to the vast scale of this submarine leviathan.

The four-week construction of the Iron Shark will be live-streamed throughout July, and The Creator Incubator space open to visitors to watch the progress. The project has been a collaboration of industry professionals to design, install and theme the working space and make the project a living art installation. Once completed, the giant shark will be presented to the public at the Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley on August 6.