Bronze, Silver, Gold and Glass
Having served as a supplier of the Czech Team for the past twelve years, Lasvit's bond with the Olympic Games is longstanding. This year, Czech medalists from the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics will be presented with an exquisite glass artifact designed by the talented Czech-Taiwanese artist, Yulin Huang. Inspired by the Czech flag, the designer crafted the trophy using a traditional glass-blowing technique with a glass pin.
As someone from Taiwan who prepared a trophy for Czech athletes, was it challenging for you to empathize with the emotions a Czech athlete feels upon receiving the trophy? What sources of inspiration guided you in this process? I am deeply honoured and proud to have the opportunity to create something beyond national boarder. Although I may seem distant from the Czech national sports scene, but my passion for games, the thrill of adrenaline, and the spirit of competition transcend borders. Not to mention after years of living in Czech Republic, there is no escape to the Czech sports in pubs. The material itself has always inspired my creations, and this Olympic trophy is no exception. Crafting with glass is particularly akin to a sport, where precise time control is crucial, teamwork is essential, and the graceful choreography of the glassblower's movements mirrors the elegance of athletic performance. What is the first emotion you want someone to experience when they first see your trophy? When someone first sees my trophy, I want them to feel its dynamic energy vibrating in their palm. I want them to feel the heat and sweat of the hot glass, imagining the intense effort behind its creation. This trophy encapsulates years of training in both sports and craftsmanship, all converging into this crystal-clear form. What were the most significant technical challenges you faced while creating the trophy? We were using a traditional steam stick technique to inject the bubbles inside of the crystal body, it was more like physical challenge with the high temperature steam coming out from the wood and the weight of the glass. And then you need to know the “hardness” of the colours to “design” the sequence and steps accordingly with the time, hot glass never waits. I never praise enough to my respected talented glass craftsmen/colleagues/team, they give you whole work life experience into the small crystal piece. And bad glass doesn’t exist, personally I love all the deformation or any unexpected results. They are exploration and experiment, to lead what is possible and where does it go, and glass always surprise you with a fruitful open ending. What is your personal connection to glass, and how do you relate to it? Coming from a subtropical country, glass to me is like ice or snow—a magical, never-melting substance.It is a truly spiritual material that fuses all the earthly elements together, enduring the challenge of heat to become a pure, crystal-clear object: delicate yet strong, fluid yet fixed. To me, it embodies wonder, uniqueness, and all the magic ones can imagine.
Czech Olympic Committee Sports Director Martin Doktor and designer Yulin Huang with the trophy for the medalists from Paris | Photo Lasvit