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.

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.

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

ICC awards over the years

“‘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. 

2023 ICC Firebrand awards

designing and creating 30" light up trophies for activate games

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.

supporting the invention convention with our awards

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.

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.

crafting awards for the winter dew tour 20th anniversary

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.

need custom in a hurry?

If you have a custom design that you need in a hurry, we 'CANN' make it happen. Due to our extensive range of in-house manufacturing equipment, we can create custom designs like the above CANN Awards in as little as 2 weeks. Email us today to find out more.   

more custom eco awards

Mmmmmm ribs. We think these custom eco awards / trophies for the PNE RibFest competition turned out really well. The have been handcrafted from sustainably sourced (FSC wood supplier) Douglas Fir and printed in full colour on all four sides.

Our UV flatbed printer can print full colour on any of our awards. This is a unique machine that is technically more advanced and versatile than old fashioned engraving machines (etching only). With full colour capabilities you can be assured to receive only the most unique custom trophies, awards and gifts.  

we just love these!!!!!

We just finished these beauties! We just love these. We had the pleasure of working with an amazing, talented and creative designer at Slalom Consulting. This design was based on our 'modernity' style awards but, the designer customised our design so beautifully. It was a great pleasure bringing such a fantastic design to life. 

We used our UV flatbed printer to add the graphics to the awards. We then CNC cut a 3d logo out from 1.2mm aluminium, hand folded into shape, spray painted and then affixed them to the awards.