At first glance, the new trophy for the Cadillac Championship golf tournament looks like your average abstract design; a nicely curved tall geometric shape. But look closer, and you’ll find several ingenious golf references in its DNA.
Designed by Cadillac Design studio and GM Industrial Design, the 20-inch trophy is intended to capture a sense of “motion, tension, and precision”. The reference? A golfer’s swing.
“Designed in collaboration with Cadillac Design, GM Industrial Design studios, and the PGA TOUR, the Cadillac Championship trophy captures the golfer’s swing as a modern, abstract sculpture,” reads an Instagram post by GM Industrial Design. “A dynamic twist, distilled geometry, and a dual-tone plated finish express Cadillac’s sculpturally pure design language of motion, tension, and precision.”
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“Created using traditional lost-wax casting—the same process that helped evolve modern golf clubs—the trophy becomes a crafted metal sculpture rather than a traditional cup, capturing the trace of a perfect drive.”
But it’s not just the curves that evoke an abstract sense of golfing. The negative space inside the trophy also resembles a golf club, complete with driver head and handle.
“This is a perfect example of conceptual design,” one Redditor comments on the design, while another adds, “That’s awesome, I like how the line between the light and shadow falls on the line of the golf club.”
