BA Design student Dewi Uridge, who created this year’s Goldsmiths Prize trophy (eventually won by Nicola Barker), provides us with some insight into his process:
“I was fortunate to be asked to design and make the trophy for this year’s Goldsmiths Prize. I had one guideline to stick by: to ensure the logo of the award was present. The shape of the logo was discovered from an eighteenth century novel by Tristram Shandy, and was created to represent the movement of a wand swaying in the air.
I wanted to transform the shape from its two-dimensional quality to a 3D object. I began by drawing the shape on Rhinoceros (a CAD software) to create it into a 3D form. I extruded and pulled different parts of the original shape to make it more ‘life-like’, and once I had the shape 3D-printed, I was able to visualise what potential the shape had to then turn into a trophy.
I experimented with paper too, considering the idea of concealing the trophy made inside the book. I tested this by PVA glueing sheets of A4 together and then forcing them under a paper press to make a block of paper. The initial idea was to CNC the outline of the trophy into the block of paper and then using that as a form of storage. Unfortunately, the test didn’t quite work out due to moisture of the glue within the paper and the heat the CNC spindle gave off, causing the whole block to warp.
Doing small tests such as these allowed me to reflect on what worked within the experiments to then proceed to make the final object. I wanted to ensure the original shape was 3D, and that the trophy itself was concealed within a material. I had little experience with CNC and took this opportunity to understand the process more, which would help push my practise further as a designer.
I had a block of oak and magnets. I CNC the shape I originally created from the 3D printer onto oak, the shape began to form – it became like a root growing from the wood (or a tape worm/book worm).
To support the trophy, I then made a box to be used as a storage system. I aimed to make the box look similar to a book, by using the direction of the grain to represent the paper inside a book cover. I inserted magnets within the box, allowing it to work not only as storage, but also to work as a trophy stand. The trophy itself also had magnets inserted underneath which snapped onto the top surface of storage box when both sides of the magnets touch.
The top surface of the storage box also had the ‘Goldsmiths Prize 2017’ CNC into the oak, I filled the space of the text with jesmonite which contrasted well with the oak to make the graphic stand out.
A thank you to the English Department at Goldsmiths for the opportunity to take-part in a prestigious event, and also to the technicians in the Design Department for their help and guidance in the making of the trophy.”
Goldsmiths Design Blog 