The International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation needed an award for the delegates of its 11th African Tax Symposium — something that read as Moroccan, not as a generic engraved plaque.
We made them in Fez pottery.
Each trophy is thrown on the wheel and hand-painted in the cobalt-on-white idiom Fez has used for generations: a radiating rosette across the face, a geometric border, and a faceted upper form that gives the piece presence on a table. The blue goes on freehand with a brush before the glaze firing, so no two are mechanically identical — which, for an award handed to a named recipient, is rather the point.
A matched set in ceramic is harder than it looks. Clay shrinks as it dries and again in the kiln, so height and diameter have to be controlled at the forming stage to land inside tolerance after firing. Pieces that drift are taken out before painting, not after.
What this project involved
- Fez ceramic, thrown and painted entirely by hand
- A matched set of awards for symposium delegates
- Cobalt underglaze decoration, kiln-fired
- Packed to survive international transit — fragile work needs proper crating, not padding
We produce awards, gifts and corporate commissions on this basis for institutions, conferences and cultural events.
