custom

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

‘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. 

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.

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!!!!!

custom modern awards for usa company unique awesome not glass or crystal.jpg

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.     

wilson - major league baseball trophies

wilson sporting goods defensive player of the year

We were honoured this year to create a series of custom trophies for Wilson Sporting Goods. The trophies were being awarded to Major League Baseball players for the Defensive Player of the Year awards. We created 12 of these in different colours and also custom designed a glove stand to match the trophies. 

The Wilson Defensive Player of the Year trophies stand 2' (605mm) tall and 4" (101mm) square. Created from aluminium, a embossed leather winners swatch was inset into the trophy. Silk screened with white and metallic inks, these trophies are big and impressive! 

gap clothing - custom awards

GAP clothing awards trophies custom not glass or crystal corporate

We were given a short timeline (2 weeks) to design and create some awards for GAP Clothing. The brief was to create something less corporate and more 'crafty'. The result was these amazing string art awards that were custom designed and handcrafted to represent the textile industry. 

We used embroidery string for the centre feature and finished the inside and outside of the award in denim fabric. A tactile textile finish was contrasted against a minimal anodised aluminium finish to create a modern look. 

eco perpetual awards/trophies

eco sustainable perpetual awards and trophies Pine Beetle Wood denim pine

We can customise all of our award designs to suit any event. The design above is our 'Classic' design but, we created it in three different sizes for the clients particular needs; perpetual award ceremonies. With the largest award measuring almost 4" square (101mm), we made the other awards proportionally smaller. This particular design was created from recovered Pine Beetle Wood (denim pine) for an eco event. 

This is a great example of our flexibility and ability to fulfil any client request. Most standard trophy / award shops will buy product from a catalogue with set designs and sizes. We custom design and handcraft every award ourselves so, we have the capacity to create anything our clients desire.

When it comes to corporate recognition we are able to deliver the best products on the market. With original, modern and meaningful designs, our designers are able to create custom awards and trophies that make an impression and deliver on our clients specific communication goals. 

custom perpetual trophy

custom perpetual trophy moden design

We just finished this fantastic custom perpetual football trophy for our client. We specialise in custom corporate recognition products but, we can also design for sporting events.

This custom perpetual football trophy has been handcrafted from locally sourced Douglas Fir wood, anodised aluminium and finished with screen printed text and graphics. We believe that creating modern and unique sporting trophies is important as most sporting trophies are boring and mostly look the same (cup style). 

Andrew Watson Design specialises in custom handcrafted corporate recognition awards trophies and plaques. We work globally providing high quality custom handcrafted corporate recognition awards trophies and plaques to our clients in Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand. We ship to all major cities and regional destinations.

new york international olive oil competition

​Making 300 of these for the world's best olive oil producers. 

​Making 300 of these for the world's best olive oil producers. 

We are a product design studio with extensive experience in custom trophy, award and plaque creation. We specialise in the creation of unique, handcrafted, custom designed trophies, awards, plaques and offer complimentary engraving services for all of our products. We use can sustainable materials such as new/recovered wood and timber or traditional materials such as glass, acrylic and aluminium. 

 

fuji xerox sustainability award

Finished product!

Finished product!

Work in progress... 

Work in progress... 

Local Vancouver and Brisbane based design studio Andrew Watson Design creates sustainable, eco and environmentally friendly custom trophies, awards, plaques and gifts.   

We can create personalized trophies, awards, plaques and gifts from our local Vancouver and Brisbane based studios that are handcrafted from recycled, recyclable, recovered, eco, eco friendly and sustainable materials. Creating custom eco trophies, awards, plaques and gifts is our specialisation. Our design philosophy is to custom design and manufacture with the environment in mind, which is why we handcraft our trophies, awards, plaques and gifts from recycled, recyclable, recovered, eco, eco friendly and sustainable materials

We use unique, modern and contemporary materials to handcraft our trophies, awards, plaques and gifts. We custom design to suit every clients specific design requirements and offer free engraving for all of our trophies, awards, plaques and gifts to add the personalized touch. The trophies, awards, plaques and gifts that we create will be remembered for years to come. So give the special someone in your life a contemporary, eco, unique and modern trophy, award, plaque or personalized gift. Buy local from our Brisbane or Vancouver studios or have them delivered to other major cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto and Calgary.