This Vilcek Prize Award trophy was created for a major new award program honoring outstanding achievements of foreign­born Americans within the fields of the visual arts and biomedical research. The first winners are artists Christo and Jeanne­Claude as well as cancer researcher Joan Massague. The trophy represents a visualization of the pinnacle an individual or group can reach; each trophy is individually designed and created for the winner using the latest in 3D digital imaging and plating techniques.

A collaboration between Stefan Sagmeister and Matthias Ernstberger of Sagmeister Inc., Nick Herman, Aly Khalifa and Robert Shanks of Gamil Design, and FineLine Prototyping, the Vilcek Prize design was in itself given an award by the AIGA for 365:28 in Typographic Design.

While the letter forms appear to thin into infinitesimal size, special mathematical models were created by Gamil to make sure a final product maintained this appearance while still being makeable. Further, a very modern process called SLArmor was used to digitally construct the piece and create an entire shell of metal to make it unique for every participant.

This year’s recipients of the Vilcek Priza are Dr. Inder Verma and Osvaldo Golijov.

Gamila Releases Facemods- “Illusionary yet Real” Candlesticks that are Created from Your Face.Raleigh, NC November 23, 2007 Using state of the art computer software and the very latest in digital manufacturing technology, Gamila announces the ultimate in custom products: Facemods.Inspired by the work of Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin, Gamila has taken a famous optical illusion of two people’s profiles facing each other and turned it into a real candlestick. Simply submit a photograph of your profile and the Gamila system will do the rest: trace your profile, revolve it into a 3 dimensional shape and output the result in a proprietary ceramic material. All in 5 days.

“We’ve had 3D printing in house to develop projects for our design clients and for our Gamila branded items, but we decided we hadn’t pushed the limit with that technology yet,” says Aly Khalifa, managing partner of Gamila. “We challenged our team to rethink what we could do with this full connection of software to hardware continuity and we were captivated by the classic Rubin illusion: is it face or a vase? Well, we made both!”The innovation doesn’t stop with these one-of-a-kind creations of your face. Gamila has also recognized the nature of sharing with candlesticks at a dinner table, and so offer a “duet” version, which takes two faces and morphs them together to produce some extremely organic results. The result is a perfect poetic creation for recently joined couples.

Facemods are described in detail at the face-mod site and are available directly from Gamila at their web store on gamilacompany.com