Where would an awards ceremony be without trophies? A trophy is the physical manifestation of success, reflects achievement and signifies a winner and Tilt, the Trophy Partner of the 2025 INDE.Awards, has again created another outstanding trophy, that reflects and celebrates great design.

This is the third year that Tilt has partnered with the INDE.Awards and the design of the trophies changes annually, however, the process is as exciting and detailed as always. This year Tilt also collaborated with Camcast in New South Wales, to bring the winning design to life. 

As the INDE.Awards has evolved as an awards program, so too has Tilt developed, consolidated and refined it’s offering to support its clients to achieve their particular built vision.

Tilt was established 10 years ago by Tim Phillips and since then it has revolutionised the work of architects and designers through its innovative and multi-faceted approach to problem solving.

For the INDEs, Tilt has designed a trophy that not only exceeds the brief but also provides the experiential for the lucky recipients. It’s not simply the way that the trophy presents, but also the touch of tumbled brass and the tactile feel, the hefty weight at 1.4 kilos and the form that becomes the physically expression of celebration.

Phillips comments on the design and making process, “The brief of the trophy is put to the entire team at TILT as an opportunity to explore design, individually or collaboratively, with the disciplines of art, architecture, product design and landscape architecture coming together.

Then when we have this intersection of design, technology, art and artisan making, that’s when things are really exciting for us, as until then, the outcomes are unknown.”

He continues, “And we had responses from the whole team, each tapping into their individual specialties, whether that is digital design or computational modelling or a deep understanding of a particular process or material. We then refined the design through a series of internal competitions arriving at a number of preferred concepts that were technical, commercial and artistic – because we have a real commercial brief that we’re responding to.”

With some 40 staff working at Tilt, 34 in Sydney and six in the Melbourne studio in Collingwood, there were a plethora of outstanding concepts from the various creatives. With so many perspectives from so many design disciplines converging, it was inevitable that the end result would be a stunning sculptural object.

Within the Tilt team, the winning design was conceived by Anthony Franco, a young industrial designer, who has created a form that is pared back, almost rustic but oh so refined.

This year’s trophy encapsulates the experiential – on the outside the trophy is smooth as the brass casting has been hand-polished and tumbled. The hollow void creates an internal surface, deliberately left unfinished, revealing the raw markings from the sand-casting process. An intricate pattern resembling natural ripples formed by wind on untouched sand emphasises the maker’s marks.

The process involved with designing and making the INDE.Awards trophy is indicative of how the studio addresses every project it undertakes – where different disciplines bring their expertise to the table to conceive something unique.

Tilt is at the forefront of design whether that is public art, architecture, interiors, landscape and even a trophy, and the company finds that collaboration at the very beginning of a project provides singular results. As the business has matured, it is the perfect partner as a design consultant working with the many architects and designers who are its clients.

Phillips explains, “We’re positioning ourselves as a design consultant moving forward now, that might involve managing fabrication. But the real value proposition for Tilt is being brought in to help explore options and develop ideas, not necessarily respond to existing ideas.

And that leads into a conversation about the trophy, where it’s an actual concept exploration as well as a deliverable. This is something that the team is really fuelled by, concept exploration as part of a team.

By bringing us in early on a project, our artists, architects, interior designers and so forth, can actually explore more as a design consultant and as collaborators, developing ideas in response to a brief, rather than just making the object that other creatives conceive.”

Tilt has achieved all that was required of it and so much more – conceptualising, designing and manufacturing an incredible award for the 2025 INDE winners.

It’s wonderful to be acknowledged as a winner and so much sweeter to take home a trophy that marks the occasion, will sit pride of place on the office coffee table and is an object that will be admired for its design and beauty.

As Phillips reflects, “You know, that’s the experience, all of the effort that goes into making it, is extracting that human response – and that’s great industrial design.

What I’m saying is that it’s great designing with all these disciplines and sectors we’re working in.

If you’re conceiving a playground, it’s about delivering joy to kids. If you’re looking at a public artwork, it’s about perhaps, intrigue or education. And every brief we are looking at is about people, and there’s a response we’re trying to extract or generate from some physical form. So, it’s about people in place, and not only about the product.”

Tilt
tilt-industrialdesign.com

Photography
Courtesy of TILT