The Finance Cup

The Finance Cup is an invitation-only tennis tournament between the United States and Europe, with teams made up of players currently working in finance. For the inaugural event, the studio was commissioned to design the eponymous trophy that the teams would be competing for.

By drawing upon symbols of the finance world, we designed a trophy that was uniquely suited to the competition – combining visceral imagery into a holistic form.

Project details

Client:
Private

Location:
London

Categories:
Concept, Design, Fabrication

Timeline:
2018 — 2019

To contextualise the project, we investigated historic trophies from other events, and studied their size, form, and ergonomics. At the same time, we considered the visual and physical metaphors prevalent within the industry. We sketched and experimented with various typologies, and were struck by the dichotomies associated with market decision-making. Traders can often be seen as commanding bulls or cautious bears, and both personae circle the stock exchange bell.

We began modelling individual bear and bull heads, building each as a tessellated construction. The tessellations unified the two heads and enabled them to be read in a single language despite their differing motifs. As we merged the two models, it was important for the bear and bull heads to be proportionally democratic. The final model saw both profiles come together into an integrated sculpture with a void through the centre to house a brass bell and hand-woven lanyard.

Looking to move away from traditional metals and work with a timeless, natural material, we chose to fashion the trophy from a light English oak. Each section was sculpted via CNC and then merged into a single piece using joinery techniques. We carved each tessellation by hand to create a seamless oak form. Finally, we applied a specialist oil to protect and finish the surface of the piece, and added the custom-engraved brass elements.