NOVELTY IN AWARD DESIGN: INNOVATIVE AWARDS FROM CONCRETE

Award workshop“Awards & Medal Studio” specialising in manufacturing of medals, cups and awards, has leaned towards innovations, experiments and unseen design solutions since the day of establishment. In 2019, a special path was taken which is now reaping the fruits of recognition and praise – a course towards manufacturing modern, laconic, elegant awards from concrete, an unprecedented trend in Nordic Europe.  

“Year of 2019 can be certainly seen as the turning point in discovering a new design solution. This year we launched cooperation with a customer from the construction industry which was looking for new awards. We were challenged to offer an award created from the construction industry materials. Since looking for new solutions is one of our core values, we immediately took on this journey towards fulfilling this client’s wishes,” tells a designer and project manager of the award workshop Ilze Skromane.

The selected basic material of the award was concrete as one of most demanded construction products and wide-spread traditions going back in thousands of years – walls, floors, ceilings – concrete is silently present, protecting, supporting, sometimes too hidden, however constantly valuable and respectable.

Variety of textures

“The first concrete award was created from coarse concrete with small pebbles visible in the texture. The award weighted nearly two kilograms. This combination seemed relative to construction industry since it encounters large, coarse, massive objects. When pushing the idea forward for another client, this material seemed too heavy, therefore we started experimenting with concrete mass,” I. Skromane reveals.

In experiments concrete was found to be a wonderful raw material giving wide spectrum of results – from heavy to light, from coarse to polished and subtle or sparkling, if combined with fine granite.

Variety of colours

Going on with experiments, we did not forget about the colour palettes. Now, owing to various pigments, we can offer concrete awards in naturally grey with different hues depending on client’s wishes, demands, company’s logo scheme.

Next step in diversifying the colour aspect is to experiment with colours of coating material which would allow for even more flexibility in award palette offering.

Combination of materials

When elaborating the first award, concrete was combined with wood. Joining of materials conferred particular elegance to the award and demonstrated that concrete structure perfectly fits other materials.

Going further from the first model, the concrete was combined with wood, metal and other materials which match equally good and allow room for fulfilling different wishes and ideas. 

 Close to nature

“We have observed a global trend that awards made of natural, environmentally friendly materials or recycled materials, become increasingly more popular and we want to keep up with it,” I. Skromane shares her experience.

This is one of aspects why concrete was chosen when looking for a new award material. Not only it contains natural elements, such as water, sand and stone mass, but natural properties can be emphasized well and it gives added value, for example by streaming fine pieces of stone into concrete giving it some coarseness. Each award therefore acquires its unique appearance. 

Variety of forms

“Every customer is incredibly special to us. We always have individual approach to the order, whether it is a medal, cup or award – each of them deserves personal immersing into the idea and bringing it to life. When handling the concrete, we came to a conclusion that it allows us to easily implement very different orders,” I. Skromane tells.

Initially liquid concrete is filled in silicone moulds which were prepared in advance according to the order’s specification. After eight hours of maturing, it is ready for further processing to start its way towards the festive ceremony, sparkle in the floodlight and give contentment to recipient. 

A prototype of the Custom concrete award model can be viewed and ordered here.

Developing concrete award design and preparing it for the award portfolio, “Awards & Medal Studio” keeps looking for new creative solutions, expanding their range of cups, medals and awards.

The range of awards created by the Studio includes medals, cups, awards made of brass, stainless steel, glass and acrylic, as well as recently designed wood items and innovative, concrete-based awards with integrated wood elements. A drive to discover something new and to experiment does not allow stopping at what is already achieved, thus it leads to looking for, finding and implementing new solutions, hand-in-hand with the latest trends and customers’ wishes.

More awards you can view and buy here.