Karim Rashid’s Trophy for the 2015 AZ Awards

A sneak peak inside the New York studio of Karim Rashid, and the making of this year’s AZ Awards trophy

Preparations are underway for Azure Magazine‘s fifth annual AZ Awards gala, taking place in Toronto on June 19.

Each year, an ingenious trophy is created by a designer or manufacturer to honour the top architects and designers selected by Azure’s jury. The basic premise remains the same each time: use the A and Z of the logo as a starting point. But consistency stops there. In the hands of industrial designer Karim Rashid the two letters have morphed into a dynamic sculptural form that can be positioned in various ways.

Rashid describes the trophy as a “brushstroke that changes in thickness and section.” The form was first sketched out freehand to determine how it could look as an abstract shape and still read as a compilation of the two letters.

The shape has now been rendered into a 3-D model that is slightly smaller in scale than the final trophy. Says Rashid: “I’m making an object of desire to serve those who have created such important, poetic, beautiful work” for the AZ Awards, “and who are changing our physical landscape.”

n its final form, the trophy will be anodized in silver and stand 18 centimetres tall. It will be presented to the 19 AZ Awards winners selected by our jury at the gala, held on June 19 at the Evergreen Brickworks, Toronto. Tickets are now on sale.