30 October 2019 - As part of the 30 Years of Guardian™ Note by Note Printing Australia launch celebrations, a Hand Sculpting Competition was staged in which six teams of four people participated with each team comprised of two employees from CCL Secure and two from NPA. The teams were given 30 minutes to transform a lump of dry modelling clay into a sculpted piece that was inspired by the hand seen on the 30 Years of Guardian™ Note.
The joint teams represented departments from each business: Administration, Design, Operations, Prepress, Product Security/Logistics, and Quality. After a brief introduction to each team by ‘Roaming Scott’ who created a match day atmosphere with his excellent commentary and interviews, CCL Secure’s General Manager – Australia, Monica Mendez officially launched the start time.
The moment the competition started, the Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody – that has become synonymous with the pottery scene in the film Ghost – started playing. After some parodied the scene, the competition began in earnest. While presentations and interviews were conducted, all teams worked so efficiently that the competition ended five minutes early, with every team producing highly credible and imaginative hand sculptures.
This included a hand with a globe in its palm, hands with impressive detail that included veins and knuckles, and a replica of the hand as it appears on the house note. Throughout the competition, the teamwork and sense of fun generated by each team was highly appreciated by the audience, who took a very keen interest in the work of all participants.
When the time came for judging, it was people from across the NPA/CCL Secure combined audience that were required to assess each work through level of applause. The response for all teams was extremely generous, with each team receiving its rightful acknowledgement, but in the end it was the Prepress team of NPA’s Ross Rowley and Bianca Martinov and CCL Secure’s Andrew Herrera and Kamal Taha who delivered the winning entry – a roughly textured hand propped up to appear as if it was balancing on its fingertips, while also wearing a watch showing the time, a ring, and accompanied by the number 30.
“The watch was set to 3 and 0 for the anniversary. In fact, we added a watch to the wrist to symbolise that good design is timeless,” says Ross. “We also had the CCL Secure and NPA logos on each side of the hand with the ring in the middle to symbolise the union of the two companies.”
The win was certainly a proud moment for the Andrew, Bianca, Kamal and Ross whose team chemistry saw them come up with the creative concept in the first few minutes of sitting down together.
“It was great to be a part of it and we’re still enjoying the win!” said Kamal.
The winning sculpture will be on display in the offices of both NPA and CCL Secure throughout the month of November.
Feat of Clay: Roaming Scott, Steve, Andrew, Kamal, Ross, Bianca, and Monica celebrate the winning work.
