Project Description
What a sweet opportunity to design and fabricate the awards for the biggest extreme snowsports event of the year… and Kiitellä embraced it.
Brian Kerr, Associate Director of Competition for ESPN X Games, was seeking something new and different for this year’s event to honor the podium finishers: medals custom designed and handcrafted by a Colorado artist, with an emphasis on sustainability.
The design process: Drawing inspiration from my heart-pounding influences: Bauhaus form and graphics; Scandinavian minimalism and respect for their natural resources; and the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi—the art of imperfection, I sketched many versions. Once a handful of the best ideas were fully developed and refined, I presented them to Brian, who chose the final design.
The final design: Thick double-layered contrasting metals, featuring the X Games logo in relief, which adds heft and a 3D feeling; Aspen’s iconic Maroon Bells, abstracted with artistic license; and simply “ASPEN 2020.” “Less is more!” (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1927) “ASPEN” and “2020” are cut in the geometrically-based classic Futura font (also 1927) and align perpendicularly to balance the off-centered placement of the “X.” The metals are 90% recycled content, nested so that waste is minimized, and all waste is recycled.