LIAF 2024: Introducing Award Trophies!

In 2024 we were thrilled to embrace a brand new partnership with the University of Greenwich, specifically their School of Design. This collab was all about addressing the long overdue creation of LIAF award trophies.

Students Marc Hawkey and Louis Dawn presented us with inspired concepts – making the process of choosing the right one extremely difficult. So much so that, in consultation with Louis and Marc, we opted to combine the strongest elements from both of their concepts. And we’re utterly delighted with the results.

Here’s what Louis and Marc had to say about the process of designing and producing the first ever LIAF award trophies:

We feel privileged to have been asked by the London International Animation Festival to design the awards for their 2024 festival. From start to finish, the skills and processes we have learned throughout the fabrication process have been invaluable, making it such a brilliant project to have been a part of. From the initial concept to the final creation, the festival gave us full creative freedom and trusted our every decision, fostering what we feel has been a truly great partnership. The awards themselves were designed with the concept of capturing a sense of motion within a static object. By corrugating the acrylic block, we achieved an effect that shifts and distorts the festival’s logo as you view it from different angles. We then added a steel casing with a patina finish to the exterior to enhance the design and echo the festival’s vibrant “spectrum of colour” identity.

Louis and Marc completely understood how a LIAF award trophy should represent our beloved world of animation: by emphasising the whole spectrum of animation through the colourful patina finish on the steel casing; by introducing animated movement through corrugated acrylic; and most importantly of all, by focusing on beautifully engraved typography to celebrate each award winner. It was an utter delight to work with Marc, Louis and Greenwich University and we hope to do so again. Here’s a great behind-the-scenes documentary about their process, which we hope you’ll enjoy.