FIBA Youth Trophies Development

Sculpting Rising Stars and Diamonds in the Rough for FIBA's youth tournaments.

This competitive tender asked for a set of unique designs that would appeal to a youthful demographic and sit within the recognisable family of FIBA trophies. Our approach was to devise concepts, forms and finishes that felt inherently youthful & contemporary, whilst ensuring that they would sit with the rest of the FIBA trophy family and stand the test of time, both visually and physically. Each trophy concept features the FIBA family ‘base’ structure, with black ‘rims’ rather than gold, to give a more youthful appearance.

Under-17's

The concept of Diamond In The Rough visualises the raw talent from youth players and slowly transforms it up into the finished article. The design features a basketball being sculpted from rock - where abstract rugged forms meet considered and geometric details.

Design

Having defined our conceptual approach we started refining the designs in more detail. Once we were happy with the basic trophy shaping, weight & balance, the team looked at designing basketball-inspired patterns for the different faces of the trophy - to add interest no matter what angle they are viewed from. The patterns themselves would be chiselled yet smooth. Finally, we then looked at keeping parity of shape and proportion between the men’s and women’s versions and using black or white infilled enamel to further denote the difference.

Under - 19's

The Rising Star concept represents new players' journey to greatness, via an ascended 5-pointed star (the number of players in a team). The design is heavily geometric and straight edged - a more honed & precise approach than the raw talent of the U-17's. A basketball tops the structure with the star shape becoming visible when seen from above.

A contemporary vapour-blasted gold gilt finish combines with high-gloss enamel infills. We opted for a more subtle differential between genders for this concept, with only colour and base shaping defining them - black & angular for Men's, white & curved for Women's.

We deliberately proposed a shared main trophy form and size between the genders - with equality in mind. The differentiation would be made between the trophies for the different age groups – U17 and U19.

CGI build

Once the design concepts were approved our motion team crafted scale CGI models to assist with the manufacturing process and for the launch promo movies. The team added detail with patterns and textures to the basic forms, exploring etching, embossing and different finishes.

Production

In order to produce these challenging and precise designs, we worked closely with renowned Silvermiths Ottewill and their team of pattern makers & electroform specialists. Firstly, the main trophy sections were precisely machined from resin. Then after construction & refinement, a layer of Sterling Silver was then carefully ‘grown’ around the resin to form a solid shell. The trophies were then gilded in gold, highly polished and then the engraved patterns across the surface were painstakingly hand painted in layers using a cold enamel. The base & engraving plate section was then assembled to complete the prestigious silverware.

U17 Launch Film

The U-17's film highlights the concept of ‘diamond in the rough’. We will see their formation from rough and organic rock, combined with an infusion of raw gold, to create something new, striking and quite unique - injected with a blast of youth culture, energy and vibrancy.

U-19 Launch Film

This U-19 film explores and re-enforces the creative concept - using precise, clean, geometric, yet organic animated scenes. A rising climb into the light sees mechanical structures forming and interlocking to represent the coming together of teammates and aligning the future stars of the game.

HERE'S WHAT THEY SAID

“Awesome to see our new trophies! Brilliant work from Works! Thanks.”

Malcolm Ashley Green, Sport & Competitions / Events Senior Manager - FIBA

"Working on the re-vamp of the FIBA U17 trophies was very refreshing! The passion, creativity and high working standards by the team at Works the new trophies concepts and development were a success and really well received not only internally but also with positive feedback from the National Federations and Teams.”

Paula Campos, Senior Brand & Licensing Manager - FIBA.

Let's Work Together