Crystal designs on trophies

As country manager of the crystal components business for Swarovski in India, Sanjay Sharma's fascination for using crystal in trophies that he designs is not a professional preference. "I would do crystal in trophies even if I was not associated with Swarovski," he claims.

For the ICC Super Series 2005 trophy, Sharma has attempted to capture a moment in cricket "" the ball hitting the three wickets "" a clean bold! The blue cricket ball in the trophy glitters with over 10,000 Swarovski crystal Chatons. "The trophy was challenging as the final suspensions were tricky though the sketch was made in 15 minutes flat," he says.

Sharma, who "designs (trophies) for fun" is also about to finish creating a trophy for the Asian Festival of First Films. In fact his trophy for ICC 2004-2006 Awards was much appreciated. It has over 4,200 Swarovski crystal Chatons embedded in each crystal ball held by a metal hand.

Interestingly, Sharma took to designing trophies after he won a non-descript trophy for a golf tournament that he won three years ago. Initially, he started doodling trophy designs. Soon the Swarovski executive found himself creating trophies for golf tournaments and cricket events.

Sharma claims crystal "is a versatile and creative medium which gives movement as it scatters the light." No one did trophies with crystals in India before he started designing them he claims.

The sketch takes little time for Sharma who tries to relate the trophy to the event. But it takes four to six weeks to create the trophy. "I want each trophy to have a soul and it should capture a moment," he says.

While getting into trophy designing may have been "accidental," for Sharma, the presence of Swarovski crystals in his trophies for domestic and international events gives a major boost to the brand.