custom deal toys for maserati

Are you familiar with the world of Maserati Trofeo?

It’s a world where raw power meets Italian craftsmanship. Where art and engineering prowess combine to create a beautiful trio of fast and seductive luxury cars. Think sexy, sporty, high-end machines with racing engines. 

This is the world that we were set the task of drawing inspiration from when crafting custom deal toys and awards to recognize the top selling Trofeo dealers in North America. 

As specialists at incorporating corporate branding into our designs, to elegantly reflect and exhibit an organization through a tangible work of art, we developed a concept with nods to both Maserati and the Trofeo fleet. 

Two layers of aluminum, powder coated in metallic silver and water jet cut into an exquisite shape embodying the design of the Trofeo collection acts as the primary material. Sandwiched between is solid surface, colored to match the Maserati brand red, with a matte anodized sheet of aluminum at the core.

The Maserati trident is a distinct and trademark aspect of the brand and an important feature to largely display on the awards. More matte anodized aluminum, this time cut into 11 different parts and assembled into the famous logo, is attached dominantly, soaring up the front side with emphatic effect.  

Deal toys are excellent ways to celebrate important transactions and partnerships, serving as a reminder of all the hard work involved. Our aim was to craft premium, unique recognition pieces that reflected the Maserati brand to embody the success of the Trofeo dealers and enhance business relations.

crafting awards to inspire change

Prizes have the power to ignite passions, drive breakthroughs and inspire change.

As far back as 1714 - when the British Government offered up a large cash prize to accurately determine longitude at sea, preventing trade ships from getting lost - incentives have been used to find solutions to the world’s greatest challenges and issues. 

Today, XPRIZE uses large-scale global incentive competitions to crowdsource solutions to society’s biggest problems. The ethos is that rather than throw money at an issue, it’s possible to incentivize the solution, inspiring and challenging the global crowd to make the unsolvable solvable. 

The challenge that XPRIZE set for us at Watson Design?

To craft awards that would help inspire change. Our brief was to develop a family of awards conveying hope, optimism and radical thinking, to complement a prize purse of up to $100 million for the competitors battling to find solutions for a better world.

Designed to be the Oscars of XPRIZE, we were commissioned to establish something truly unique, a modern reward that would still be recognized in 10 years. So began our initial design phase, with the goal to create a premium set of custom awards, featuring a timeless yet dynamic aesthetic. 

Working towards a more sustainable world is a fundamental aspect of the XPRIZE mission, making it an essential requirement for the awards to be crafted from recyclable and sustainable materials.

We opted for metal and wood — using aluminum to create the outline of an X and black painted bamboo, with a matte finish, to fill one side of the shape. Additional anodized aluminum plates are fixed either side of the bamboo to complete a sleek chevron within the X, replicating the XPRIZE brand logo. 

The finished awards are a family of futuristic trophies designed in ascending size, from participation awards to first place. Maintaining the same theme, we crafted a selection of staff and judges plaques to complete four different designs and a fine array of unique modern awards.

With a target audience of intellectuals and experts in science and technology - and the wider community with a desire to change the world - we implemented an innovative, novel and striking design, set to stand the test of time. As with all of our awards, the designs incorporate the client’s logo, brand colors - including subtle hints of fuchsia - and personalized text. 

You can delve further into the design details for these awards on our XPRIZE - custom awards and plaques page.

Interested in crafting your own inspiring awards? Contact us to get started.

how to clean and look after your custom awards

Receiving custom awards is special. Custom awards are a symbol of your hard work, dedication and success.

They provide a physical object that can be looked back at for you to reflect on your feelings of pride and delight. That’s why our awards are designed to be timeless - allowing you to value them long into the future.

But in order to maintain the premium aesthetic and high-quality that comes with the awards from Watson Design, it’s important that they’re properly taken care of. 

Each of our awards are crafted with care, a meticulous attention to detail and the personal touch of our talented design team. Here’s a few pointers to help keep these beautiful tokens of appreciation and success in the condition they arrived:

  1. When it’s time to clean, stick to a soft cloth and a little water.

  2. Avoid using Windex, solvents, or any strong detergents. They can be harsh on the materials we work with and damage the custom prints.

  3. It’s best to keep out of direct sunlight to prevent fading.

  4.  Give wooden awards a little love by replenishing with natural wood oil.

  5.  Printed surfaces will wear if rubbed on tables or desks.

  6. And finally, remember to be gentle and handle with care.

These six simple steps show that looking after our custom awards is easy. Regular cleaning will ensure that they continue to look beautiful while proudly displayed on your desk, shelf or mantlepiece and will remain a testament to your achievements.

watson design announced as a distinguished platinum winner at the design skill awards 2024

 

We’re delighted to have been crowned as a Platinum Winner at the 2024 Design Skill Awards in the Custom & Unique Product Design category. We entered our 30" light up trophies for Activate Game's Tournament of Champions and are delighted and immensely proud that these intricate and eye-catching designs have achieved the recognition we believe they deserve. 

The Design Skill Awards is open to a host of talent around the world, from well respected design firms to up-and-coming solo innovators, so we are thrilled to have emerged triumphant against a large and skilled field of other designers.  

Individuals chosen to make up the Grand Jury for the Design Skill Awards were chosen based on their deep-rooted knowledge, innovative methodologies, and profound impact on the architectural and design communities. The panel is comprised of renowned professionals, scholars, and commentators from across the globe, to guarantee a broad and insightful perspective throughout the evaluation process.

It’s a great privilege and extremely rewarding to see that our work was appreciated by such an esteemed and expert judging panel and testament to the hard work of our design team. We’re glad to see that the trophies proved to be a success for our clients Activate and have now received notable recognition within the world of product design. 

The world’s first active gaming facility, Activate allows participants to become the player and compete inside dynamic game rooms with interactive technology. Stretching across North America at Activate’s participating locations, The Tournament of Champions provides top players the chance to compete for the ultimate champion title, cash prizes and their name on our standout awards.

Activate set us a brief to develop an in-facility trophy that would not only catch the eye of visitors and potential Tournament of Champions (TOC) competitors, but leave them eager to compete. 

You can find out more about the trophies and production process on our blog and by watching our Instagram reel.

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employee christmas gift and award ideas

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Holiday season is fast approaching and there’s no better time for showing appreciation. As a time for giving and expressing thanks, it’s the perfect opportunity to reward employee dedication and outstanding commitment with a small token of gratitude.

But deciding on corporate gifts can be a minefield - magnified by the Christmas work rush and hitting deadlines before the break commences.

If you stumbled across this blog looking for Christmas awards or employee Christmas gift ideas, Watson Design has plenty of possibilities to help. Below, we breakdown our collections and offerings to simplify the process and help you make an informed decision. 

Custom
Trophies and awards that have been created for specific events and themes or to match corporate and organizational branding. If you’d like to reward recipients with something totally unique and original, this is the option for you. 

We encourage in-depth collaboration between our designers and clients, allowing a shared vision to be brought to life — creating beautiful and meaningful awards and corporate gifts that will show genuine appreciation and thanks this Christmas. 

With custom options available from under $200 per award to over $300, there’s plenty of flexibility in the materials we work with and the complexity of the finished product. 

Eco
The difficulty of searching for employee appreciation ideas at Christmas can be made harder if you’re seeking sustainable and eco-friendly options. We specialize in a sustainable approach to the custom design and creation of unique, handcrafted awards and plaques - a great choice for eco-conscious Christmas gifts. 

Considering the environmental impact of our processes, all of our eco awards are handcrafted from recovered or sustainable materials. In the eco range, we stock several pre-designed awards that are exclusive to us and can be customized for any brand or event. Alternatively, we can create custom awards from scratch using only eco-friendly materials.

Acrylic
Our pre-designed acrylic awards are again exclusive to us and 100% customizable to suit your branding or event theme using UV flatbed printing - a state of the art process that allows us to print photographic quality in full CMYK colour. 

Awards in this collection are beautifully crafted, affordable and - as we keep stock of our acrylics - they’re a great choice for time sensitive orders. We’ll bring your ideas to reality as quickly as possible to ensure you have them in time for the holiday season. 

Searching for employee appreciation ideas at Christmas doesn’t have to be a challenge. We’ve got you covered with our options on corporate gifts, awards and trophies. Check out our homepage to explore our offerings further and delve into a wide array of employee Christmas gift ideas. 

supporting the inaugural rockstar energy open with our custom trophies

Over 100 top-tier and up-and-coming street and park skateboarders recently descended on Portland, Oregon’s historic Waterfront Park for the inaugural Rockstar Energy Open. The event showcased a mesmerizing display of skating across street and park formats and kept fans entertained all weekend with live music, art installations and more. 

As big advocates of action and board sports at Watson Design, we were delighted to be given the opportunity to create custom trophies for the event, allowing us to bring exciting exclusive designs to life and include our own influence. 

The celebration of skateboarding culture brought together the world’s best skaters with the next generation through an open invitation format, that saw skaters have the chance to compete with invited pros using a video qualifying series (VQS). Videos were judged by fans and experts for a chance to compete in Portland. 

For the inaugural event, we wanted to ensure we created something truly unique, that reflected the energy and vibrance of skate culture and the stimulating Rockstar Energy brand. Avoiding the generic sports trophy style, we combined meganite with the warm tones of maple wood and added anodized aluminum for additional intricate detail. As skateboards are made of maple wood, the inclusion of the material brought cohesion between product and real-life activity.

The large flat space on the back of the meganite provided the ideal surface to add custom UV prints, capturing the essence of the Rockstar brand and street culture with bold branded text complimented by a graffiti style rose graphic in Rockstar’s standout gold colorway. For further detail and bespoke branding, we replicated the bold text and Rockstar logo in a continuous pattern around the edge of the meganite. 

On the front side, the smooth clean cut of maple wood is on full display, contrasting majestically with the dark meganite base visible around the edges. More UV prints allowed us to add further custom details to outline the award category and finishing position of the athletes. 

Displayed proudly at the top of the wood are aluminum plates anodized in gold, silver and bronze for each finishing position and award. The plates feature more striking text and logos to showcase the Rockstar brand and evoke a sense of pride amongst the recipients through a distinct and modern custom sports trophy.

Following the same design style, we crafted the trophies in a circular shape to create bonus awards for best trick jam in both the street and park categories. The event proved to be a major success and we are proud to have supported it with the contribution of our awards and were delighted to see them upon the podium in the hands of the winners. 

Check out the Rockstar Energy and Platfrm Instagram channels to see our awards pictured with the winning skaters and find out more about the event.

celebrating a special relationship with spaceport america and esra

At Watson Design we’re innovators. We’re outside the box thinkers and experimenters. We’re designers and creatives with a fondness for projects that explore new production techniques and the satisfaction it provides when successfully achieving a striking new design. 

Such an ethos isn’t so dissimilar to that of our long term client: Spaceport America —  the first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world. 

While we’re based in Squamish, BC making custom trophies and awards, Spaceport America is home to many U.S. commercial space flight and rocket launch programs in southern New Mexico.

Granted, trophies and rockets don’t have too much in common, but with a shared view of developing new concepts within our particular fields and producing work of the highest quality, we’re proud to have built a lasting relationship with Spaceport America. 

Each year we develop a collection of awards for the Spaceport America Cup, hosted by the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA). Over 150 teams from colleges and universities around the world compete to launch solid, liquid and hybrid rockets to altitudes of up to 30,000 feet. 

We’ve created differing awards to cater for each category, including a large Spaceport Cup as the grand prize. Here’s a dive into the awards we’ve produced and how they’ve changed over the years. 

Spaceport America Cup
The big one. 

Sitting at the front of Spaceport America is a 40 feet wide, 23 feet high, multi-ton sculpture, built to convey the beginning of a New Space Age. It was only right that our Spaceport Cup referenced the sculpture and so the design hasn’t changed much over time. 

The award is made from sustainably sourced chocolate bamboo, cut into curved layers and assembled in an upwards pointing half moon shape. Sitting within the curves is a thin layer of aluminum with holes of varying sizes, drilled into the metal to represent the stars in the New Mexico desert sky. 

For 2021, we kept the same design but replaced the bamboo with black acrylic to mark the event being held virtually. Diamond polishing ensured the awards were finished with a shine and UV printing added a bespoke branded touch.

 

Chile Cup 
In 2019 the Chile Cup was born.

Named after the New Mexico state crop, the competition recognizes rocketry teams within the region. To match the Spaceport America Cup, we developed a similar design using chocolate bamboo but added imagery of colored chile peppers in the form of anodized aluminum cut outs to give the awards their own unique stand-out touch.  

 

Category Rocket Awards 
To recognize recipients across a range of different categories, we created awards made primarily from smooth maple hardwood. The secondary material came in the form of five aluminum panels, assembled around the wood to make up the shape of a rocket. Differentiating winners from runners-up, the winners awards featured red and blue anodizing on the panels. UV prints provided more rocket imagery and custom text. 

In 2023, these awards were given a refresh by replacing the panels with whole rocket shapes made from solid surface sandwiched between aluminum. We also swapped out the maple for chocolate bamboo to align with the other awards in the collection. 

 

Technical Awards
Another design in the collection to receive a revamp in 2023. Again, we replaced maple with chocolate bamboo before applying precision cuts to the wood to create a beautiful shape with a chamfered edge. Wrapped around the spinal edge is matte anodized aluminum to compliment the wood and provide an ideal surface for adding custom Spaceport America and ESRA logos and personalized text.  

 

Sportsmanship Award
The final award to see a 2023 refresh, chocolate bamboo finished with natural oil provided a solid rectangular shape. Anodized aluminum plates were placed either side - one red, one blue. Using relief milling, a precision rocket shaped cut out to both materials enables the awards to be seen straight through for added intricate and exciting detail. 

 

Video Awards
A new design added to the collection for 2024. These awards were inspired by the technical awards created in 2017 and feature the same wooden block but this time in chocolate bamboo to maintain the same material across the whole collection. An anodized aluminum rocket towers up one side with UV prints applied to both materials for branding and customization.

 

Reflecting on the awards we’ve produced for Spaceport America and ESRA, we’re proud to be celebrating a special relationship. We pride ourselves on delivering exceptional service to build lasting relationships and we’ve enjoyed creating innovative new designs and adapting and refreshing old ones within the Spaceport America collection for such a long period of time.

reflecting on the awards we crafted to recognize the 2024 king and queen of crankworx

As Whistler Crankworx 2024 draws to a close, we’re delighted to have supported the town’s iconic event with our awards for another year. 

The ten day festival welcomed the world’s best mountain bike athletes and thousands of fans to celebrate an exciting display of action across multiple disciplines - from thrilling downhill racing to mind blowing big air jumps and tricks. 

Watson Design was commissioned to craft eight different awards for the grand finale of the Crankworx World Tour, including the prestigious King and Queen of Crankworx trophies awarded to the athletes with the most points racked up across all of the events. 

We always strive to make our custom awards unique and striking. Having worked with Crankworx for previous events, we had an agreed design from last year to base the awards on, but included new details to enhance the aesthetic and make the trophies truly distinct for the 2024 winners. 

With a team full of bike fanatics, our multi-talented designers and weekend shredders were given the chance to add their influence on the awards and contribute to the festival. As an awards business based in Squamish, BC, it’s amazing to get involved with world-class sporting events on our doorstep. 

Maintaining a similar approach to last year’s King and Queen of Crankworx awards and aligning with the monarchy theme, we created scepters that could be proudly raised on the podium by the winners. Employing a mixed material approach, the awards combined red oak wood with aluminum and included 3D printing and vinyl stickers to achieve exquisite finishing touches. 

Chrome coating to the bar complimented by silver topo lines helped with adding dazzling effect. At the top of the scepters we applied more chrome coating to the aluminum but contrasted this with black powder coated aluminum on the inner side of the material to provide a sleek platform for a 3D printed globe and crown to sit upon. 

The other awards we were commissioned to create all followed the same design structure and again featured red oak wood with aluminum. This time the oak was shaped into a rectangular block and included a 3D printed map of Whistler intricately pocketed into the wood to give a clean finish and add bespoke details. 

We attached the aluminum to the oak at the top and bottom to enable it to bridge over the front side. Here we included a window cut out to the middle of the metal to reveal the map displayed in the wood underneath. Colored anodizing to the aluminum and UV flatbed prints allowed us to add differentiating elements for each category and add personalization and branding details.

Crankworx Whistler is a major event for communities within the Sea to Sky corridor. It’s a fantastic celebration of mountain biking and the incredible landscape we’re lucky enough to call home. We’re proud to support the festival through our custom designs and loved seeing the final creations for 2024 in the hands of the winners. 

Check out our Instagram reel to see the awards brought to life. 

watson design certified as a living wage employer for 2024

Watson Design is delighted to have officially received certification as a Living Wage Employer for Families in BC. 

Living Wage for Families in BC defines a Living Wage Employer as a business who pays all direct and contract staff the living wage rate for their region. The living wage considers the amount that a family of four needs to earn to meet their expenses. This wage includes costs like rent and groceries as well as items like extended health care and two weeks savings for each adult.

Watson Design recognizes that paying a living wage is an investment in the long-term prosperity of the economy and local community - and ensures that no one gets left behind. As a small business, we’re proud to be able to support our tight knit team with a wage that justifies the amazing work they do in creating custom awards, trophies, gifts and plaques and successfully delivering them to our clients.

the art of creating unique awards: custom design for lacework

 

How do you create a unique award?

Recognition and reward is a special act that provides a sense of value between those rewarding and those being rewarded. When recognizing someone with an award, that sense of value can be enhanced if it is truly unique. But, there is an art to crafting awards that are beautifully striking, and distinct from traditional trophies and plaques.

To be unique is to be unlike anything else. When creating awards, this means developing new, exciting concepts and using different materials creatively to produce an individual, modern trophy design.

Working with Lacework, we developed a custom shape before incorporating an interesting mixed material approach to bring the design to life — including our inaugural use of a special holographic film.

An elegantly shaped piece of clear acrylic with an alluring chamfered edge makes up the main body. Finished with diamond polishing, we added the holographic film to the rear to create a dazzling, multi-colored effect and the perception of stained glass. The magical colors reflect the Lacework brand and ensure that the awards vibrantly stand out. 

Contrasting the vivid material on top, smoky charcoal colored cast concrete with a rough natural finish provides a solid base down below. Combining such different materials helps to achieve a finished product that is both contemporary and independent, while the varying colors and textures complement each other beautifully.

Laser engraving to the concrete and UV prints to the acrylic augments the custom element to these awards and meets Lacework’s branding requirements with the addition of their logo and name.

The outcome is a unique award, designed to reward and recognize — and provide a sense of value towards Lacework employees.

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celebrating eight years of awards for inductive automation: ignition community conference

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“‘When the customer comes first, the customer will last’”
— Robert Half

At Watson Design we’re committed to delivering exceptional service for our clients and pride ourselves on the relationships we’ve built. After working with us once, many clients have returned multiple times to receive the same high standard for recurring awards and events.

Inductive Automation's Ignition Community Conference (ICC) gathers the industrial world’s brightest minds at one event — and we’ve had the pleasure of creating the awards for it over the last eight years. 

Client collaboration is a major part of our design process. Starting with initial concepts through to the final awards, we work closely with clients to ensure the finished product is distinctly unique, striking and customized to suit their high-level corporate branding requirements. 

Pictured above and below are the eight awards we’ve crafted for the ICC. Based on the brief set, we developed completely new designs with bespoke branding to match the event theme each year.

From wood, metal, acrylic and meganite, to 3D and UV flatbed printing, anodizing, laser cutting and many more, we’ve utilized a whole range of different materials and production techniques over the years. The result? A wide collection of vibrantly decorated, unique, custom trophies - fit for rewarding the amazing success of the winners.

Each year has been a progression of skill and elements, and the awards have continued to grow in terms of design and complexity. The 2023 Firebrand award is a true reflection of the pinnacle of awards and trophies that we’re capable of crafting at Watson Design. 

ICC aims to elevate skills, exchange ideas, share knowledge and provide inspiration from industry leaders who are changing industrial applications and operations. We’re delighted to have supported the event through our award designs over the past eight years and plan to continue our relationship with Inductive Automation and ICC into the future, as we now begin designing the fall 2024 awards. 

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designing and creating 30" light up trophies for activate games

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How do I get my name on that?

That’s the question we set out to get Activate Games’ customers asking when we embarked on creating one of our biggest, and most intricately detailed, trophy designs to date. 

Activate set us a brief to develop an in-facility trophy that would not only catch the eye of visitors and potential Tournament of Champions (TOC) competitors, but leave them eager to compete. 

The world’s first active gaming facility, Activate allows participants to become the player and compete inside dynamic game rooms with interactive technology. 

Stretching across North America at Activate’s participating locations, The Tournament of Champions provides top players the chance to compete for the ultimate champion title, cash prizes and their name on our standout awards.

Acting as a display piece, we designed 30” light up trophies by integrating LEDs for emphatic effect. The inclusion of lights in the design helped with cohesion between product and real-life activity, as lights play a large role in Activate’s game modes and the TOC.

We opted for meganite as the structural base for the trophies, with matte anodized aluminum on each side to make up the unique shape. The dark metal provides the perfect contrast to the shine of the LED lighting and enabled us to apply detailed UV flatbed printing to add a large TOC logo.

Intertwined with the meganite and aluminum is clear acrylic with frosted edges. This is where the LEDs are applied to brighten the Activate text and logos that have been laser engraved onto the material. 

Activate’s brief stated that they plan to open more locations over the next 10 years, requiring more awards. So, the whole creation process involved future proofing the design — including a removable panel enabling the LEDs to be easily be replaced. The panel features 10 place spots for future winners with the removable element allowing new winners to be updated after 10 years.

It was crucial to consider how to power the LEDs. After plenty of trial and error, we decided to use a regular power outlet with a plug point located on the rear side of the awards. 

At Watson Design we specialize in the custom creation of modern awards, trophies, gifts and plaques. We had lots of fun designing and crafting these striking and elaborate trophies which now stand proudly in every Activate facility, eagerly awaiting the engraving of the next champion’s name.

Want to see more of these awards? Check out our Instagram reel showcasing the design process.

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supporting the invention convention with our awards

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For several years Andrew Watson Design has proudly been the award provider for the Invention Convention Americas — the culminating program for top young inventors from national programs in Mexico and the United States.

So often the awards and trophies that children receive lack creativity, modern designs and personalization.

Instead, they’re awarded generic, cheap and lackluster products that struggle to generate the same feeling of appreciation and recognition as a unique custom award. For the Invention Convention, we wanted to change that.

Our goal was to create a final product using sustainable and eco-friendly materials that would create a sense of pride and accomplishment for the young inventor’s innovation and entrepreneurship.

Implementing contemporary concepts, we developed a collection of custom made awards and medals to help show genuine and thoughtful reward for the work of the winners.

Avoiding a classic trophy shape, the awards feature blonde and caramel bamboo, sanded smooth and finished with a natural Danish oil. Anodized aluminum compliments the wood to create a modern abstract award, with UV prints applied to hit the branding and personalization requirements. 

The Invention Convention ‘envisions a world in which all young learners have access to innovation, invention and entrepreneurial learning to gain the confidence and skills to control their own destiny to help shape a better future’.

We hope that by delivering beautiful bespoke awards, we can help inspire confidence and future success by making the awardees feel special for their achievements.

achieving the perfect design with yamaha

 

Designing our custom awards is not a simple process. It’s a process that takes time. It takes patience. It’s a process of trial and error, discussion, debate and detailed consideration. 

It’s a process that involves numerous concepts before achieving a result that our design team and our clients are happy with. It’s a process that we dedicate great time and attention to — so when we eventually get to that ‘bingo’ moment and the final concept is decided on, it’s a process that ends in jubilation.

When Yamaha commissioned us to design their elite dealer employee recognition awards, our team tweaked, edited, swapped and changed a whole variety of concepts before achieving the perfect design. 

Below is an example of the concepts we initially developed and above is the design that was taken forward for production. From modernized classic trophy shapes, to extravagant designs including a 3D printed tire, you can see the lengths our designers go to when developing concepts to ensure our awards and trophies are distinctly unique, contemporary and compelling. 

Working from Yamaha’s brand style guide, each concept meets strict corporate branding requirements and features the organization’s trademark brand logo, font type and brand colors. With a personalized touch for each recipient, the awards are ideal employee appreciation and staff recognition gifts.

We pride ourselves on our ability to create awards with a clean aesthetic – without any visible fixings that detract from the overall design. With this in mind, we decided on a concept that hit the requirements of the Yamaha client brief - and worked practically when it came to production - to achieve an award that combined solidity with a sleek finish.

 

andrew watson design emerges triumphant in the 2024 new york product design awards

We’re thrilled to be announced as a silver winner of the 2024 New York Product Design Awards. From a pool of over 1,000 submissions, our design was chosen amongst the winners and was deemed exceptional by the judging panel.

Our custom Dew Tour awards crafted for the Des Moines street style skateboard competition were entered into the Figures and Statues category. We're delighted to win the honor of receiving a NY Product Design Award and for the hard work, skill and dedication of our amazing team to be recognized on such a reputable scale.

Dew Tour Des Moines is one of the most high-profile skating events in the world where only the most prolific sponsored skateboarders compete. We were commissioned to design and create custom winners trophies that reflected the Dew Tour brand, event theming and skateboarding aesthetic.

As experienced creators of custom awards, trophies and gifts, we understood the responsibility of creating a product that was completely on brand, professional and compelling. It is hugely rewarding to see that our work was not only appreciated by Dew Tour, but also stood out triumphantly and captivated the attention of a diverse and esteemed judging panel within the world of product design. 

Created to honor and elevate product designers whose innovations enhance our world, the NY Product Design Awards embody a commitment to recognizing excellence. Open to professionals and enthusiasts alike, the competition underscores the significance of product design in today's interconnected and evolving landscape of consumption.

Recently we worked with Dew Tour again to custom design and handcraft the awards for the Winter Dew Tour 20th Anniversary at Copper Mountain, Colorado.

Interested in some BTS content? Check out the Instagram reel we put together during the creation process of the award winning trophies.

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crafting awards for the winter dew tour 20th anniversary

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At Andrew Watson Design, it’s fair to say we’re all pretty into our snow sports. As a small awards business based in the beautiful mountains of British Columbia, just a short drive from the world renowned Whistler Blackcomb, it’s rather hard not to be. So when we were commissioned to design and create winners trophies for the prestigious 2024 Winter Dew Tour event - at the famous Copper Mountain, Colorado - we were eager to get started and bring the awards to life. 

An anniversary year, the 2024 Winter Dew Tour was a 20 year celebration of skiing and snowboarding. We knew the importance of creating unique, standout awards that captured the essence of freestyle snow sports and incorporated Dew Tour’s vibrant and playfully outlandish branding. Working from a clean slate, we custom designed and handcrafted awards completely distinctive to the event and Dew Tour brand. 

Copper Mountain was host to a mind blowing display of action throughout the weekend and we are proud to have supported such an incredible event, and to see our awards in the hands of the amazing winners. Each award included a brushed aluminum rod, to create a subtle handle for recipients to showcase the full award upon the podium — allowing Dew Tour’s dazzling colorway and gripping graphics to take center stage. Understanding the importance of high-level corporate branding, we employed UV flatbed printing to create a D shaped neon green back print, accompanied by Dew Tour’s trademark punchy purple and brand logo.

Andrew Watson Design is delighted to have worked with Dew Tour previously for the 2022 Des Moines street style skateboard competition and we hope to continue this relationship to craft fun and flamboyant awards for exciting events in the future.

custom awards for nutaku

Nutaku custom awards for employee recognition

Nutaku custom awards for outstanding achievements

Watson Design was tasked with crafting custom awards for Nutaku to celebrate outstanding achievements within their company and recognize employee success. Nutaku commissioned Watson Design to create high-quality, custom trophies that reflected their brand and remained completely bespoke. 

The awards were assembled using aluminum tubes with anodized aluminum. These materials combined with the print and design of the awards worked in unison to deliver a harmonized design. The angular lines of the award are echoed in the subtle geometric gloss print that wraps around, inviting the viewer to inspect each side. This adds depth and captures light in a playful manner as it bounces from one line to another. Working with aluminum tubing was not simple and required meticulous work to sand, finish and cap each end before assembling without any visible fixings. Each award was custom made following Nutaku’s style guide and personalized with different numbers, categories and names. 

In order to create an exquisite employee appreciation gift - in line with Nutaku’s corporate identity - Watson Design employed a variety of machinery and range of printing techniques including wide format flatbed, screen printing and sublimation. Watson Design specialize in the custom design and creation of unique hand-crafted awards.


custom dew tour awards for des moines streetstyle skateboard competition

Dew Tour Des Moines custom winners trophies

Custom winners trophies at the 2022 Dew Tour Des Moines

Watson Design was tasked with crafting custom awards for the Dew Tour Des Moines streetstyle skateboard competition — one of the most high-profile skating events in the world where only the most prolific sponsored skateboarders compete. Dew Tour commissioned Watson Design to design and create custom winners trophies that reflected their brand, event theming and skateboarding aesthetic. 

Seeking a dynamic design, Watson Design implemented a mixed-media approach to the awards using a combination of materials that included maple plywood, skateboard grip tape, semi translucent green acrylic, anodized aluminum and solid surface (meganite). Requiring five contrasting materials to be reliably printed on - including the unorthodox grip tape - the project pushed the boundaries of wide format printing and brought challenges to ensure the materials worked together to create a cohesive design. The final product successfully combined all the materials without displaying fixings to create a clean, unique and enterprising award that matched the brand style guide and brief set by Dew Tour. 

Almost 50 individually different custom awards were developed for this project utilizing Watson Design’s thorough methodology process and expertise in the creation of unique, handcrafted, custom designed trophies, awards and plaques.


united nations global compact awards

At Watson Design we offer an eco award range where we specialize in a sustainable approach to the custom design and creation of unique, handcrafted awards, trophies, and plaques. 

When we received the brief to develop awards for the United Nations (UN), there was one main focus: to create an award that was as eco-friendly as possible. 

Before initiating the design phase, we first considered the UN’s 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The goals lay out the path to a better world for all people and the planet and what we need to do collectively to get there.

With this in mind, we took special consideration of goals 13 and 15: Climate Action and Life on Land.

We used two primary materials. The first, maple wood from a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) supplier. We felt that this would help work towards the Life on Land SDG which aims to protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems and sustainably manage forests.

As a small awards business based in scenic British Columbia, we recognize the beauty and importance of our incredible forests and the need for them to be sustainably managed and preserved.

Not only did the maple wood help to work towards this goal and ensure the awards were eco-friendly, it also provided the perfect material for sculpting into an exquisite design with a modern clean finish. 

To compliment the wood, we 3D printed the body of the eco awards from a PLA material. PLA is made from renewable resources such as corn starch or sugar cane. It’s recyclable, biodegradable and compostable — helping us work towards the Climate Action SDG to urgently combat climate change. 

Combining sustainable maple wood with 3D printed PLA allowed us to craft an award that was contemporary and striking, yet sustainable and environmentally friendly. 

A trophy design studio with extensive experience in the creation of unique, handcrafted, eco awards, we are always excited to take on new projects and bring client ideas to life using sustainable, recovered and recycled materials. 

let’s discuss your awards