Our rush trophy service exists for those moments when time is not an option.
Usually, the average timescales on a bespoke award from Upstream is 8 weeks – from first conversation to finished trophy. The design process is meticulous, and can run for 2 weeks, with even the smallest details being edited to ensure the award aligns perfectly with your vision. Production can take another two to four, with a large amount of time put into developing an award that stands the test of beauty, but also practicality. On larger projects, sourcing and developing new materials that have a direct link with the client can also take its time – it is an art, after all.
But sometimes, the time just isn’t there. Perhaps a new sponsor signed in the final hour, or an award category added last-minute. Maybe a trophy supplier fell through.
Our Turbo Service exists for these very moments. It’s a rush trophy service, offered at an additional fee. We work with recycled and reclaimed materials already within our Rotterdam workshop. For some builds, that can mean we go from concept to final creation in as little as a week.
What the turbo service is
The sourcing stage is where we claw back the time. We can create a fully customised trophy that fits your brief, crafted from unique, reclaimed materials we already hold.
On a full bespoke project, material can come from almost anywhere. The Havenkanjer trophy used reclaimed oak traced to an 18th-century shipwreck in a Rotterdam waterway. The medals for the IHF Women’s World Championship were made from match jerseys donated by Dutch handball clubs. Tracking down, testing and processing material like this can take weeks before any production begins.
While our rush trophy service has no option but to skip this stage, our catalogue of in-house materials ranges from new materials created from recycled plastics, all the way to leftover pieces from large projects. We are able to bring together these elements and provide our clients with a trophy unlike any other – so you won’t have to compromise on authenticity. Your brief helps shape how we use the materials, and the concept is still original to your event. Our refinement process is unlimited, meaning we don’t stop until you’re happy with it.
Turbo, bespoke and standard
If a standard trophy is enough to do the job, that’s usually the quickest choice. They’re designed to stand out, and use materials developed from recycled plastics that have a story of their own. Each trophy can have an engraving or personalisation to the winner, meaning these trophies suit events where several awards are handed out at once.
A full bespoke commission sits at the other end of the scale. It’s a trophy created entirely for the event, and is made to reflect that individuality. Every decision is made around the brief, including the material, and the result can become a signature award that an event reuses year after year.
Turbo takes a little bit from the standard trophy model, and whole lot more than the bespoke option. Our rush trophy service is fully bespoke, harnessing design expertise at every touchpoint. This ensures that a quality build happens at speed, with just as much (oftentimes more) thought put into creating a piece that encompasses the values of your brand using materials that are already on hand.
How a turbo order works
The process follows the same shape as a standard commission, just compressed. It begins with a briefing covering the essentials:
- the event date and delivery address
- the number of awards
- any branding, colours or references the trophy should carry
The design team then works up an original concept from the available materials and presents it to you. We revise it as many times as you need, and once you’ve signed it off, the order goes into production with priority in the workshop schedule.
If your event date is approaching fast, we will let you know what we can reasonably achieve within the time frame. If our workshop is busy or it is a peak period, your rush order skips straight to the front of the queue.
If your design and amends process is straightforward, the turnaroujnd can be as little as one week. More complex designs need longer, and we’ll tell you at the briefing stage which applies to yours.
What “materials on hand” means in practice
Our workshop keeps a working stock of recycled and reclaimed materials, much of it left over from sourcing runs for previous projects. We usually carry a range of unique recycled plastics, wood and metals, and we offer 3D printing, cnc milling, laser cutting and spray painting in-house. You can find out more from our materials page here.
These are the same materials we use across our standard and bespoke work and through which we demonstrate our sustainability values, so a turbo order doesn’t change the finish, build quality or care that goes into creating your custom piece. .
And because we sourced this material stock ourselves, its origins are already on record. Each turbo trophy carries a material passport built into its base, as our regular timeline bespoke pieces do. The passport documents where the material came from and leaves space for the story behind the award, the event and the brand.
What you give up for the speed
Any rush trophy service involves some compromise, and with turbo the main one is material choice. A turbo trophy can’t be made from something tied to your organisation, such as your own product waste or kit collected from your members. There simply isn’t time to source and process it.
Your turbo trophy’s design will be refined until you’re happy with it, but it’s developed from a single starting concept. A full bespoke project can explore several creative directions side by side before one is taken forward. If you’d like to compare distinctly different ideas, that’s a job for a full commission. For a turbo order, a clear brief at the start helps the first concept land close to what you have in mind – and helps the trophy land closer to your deadline!
What the turbo service costs
The rush trophy service fee is charged on top of the standard price and covers the prioritised design and production time. As with all our work, you’ll receive a clear breakdown before anything is confirmed.
When going turbo makes sense
Turbo works best when a catalogue trophy just doesn’t say enough, but time is running out. Typical situations include:
- an award category added late in the planning
- a replacement for a trophy order that fell through
- a one-off recognition for a retiring colleague
- a sponsor who comes on board close to the event and wants their award to look the part
But a Turbo trophy doesn’t have to be made in a week. There’s a sliding scale of how much is possible in any amount of time. If you’ve got 4 weeks, it’s perfectly possible to begin with 3 very different designs. If you’ve only got the one week, one design is enough to work from. So Turbo is also a great choice for deadlines that are too close to risk it.
How to request a turbo order
Send us your event date and a short description of the award, and we’ll tell you whether turbo is possible in the time available. If it isn’t, we’ll say so plainly and suggest what can realistically be done instead. When time is short, a straight answer early on is worth more than an optimistic one.
Get in touch about a turbo order.
