The RC44 Valletta Cup Trophy was unveiled recently during a press conference.

Designed by Valentino Architects, the brief for the design was to create an image which is contextual and location specific.

With Match Racing taking place in Valletta’s iconic Grand Harbour, the design attempted to capture the speed and dynamism of the RC44 boats together with the spirit of place into an identifiable image. An abstraction of an image of two sails – suggesting fluidity, movement, and speed – was married with profile of the Grand Harbour’s bastion walls – rigid, permanent and immovable.

“The idea was also to move away from the traditional symbol of a ‘trophy’ into something which is more thought provoking – an art object which is meant to be encourage dialogue and conversation,” said Sandro Valentino.

The organising authority has opted against purchasing ‘off the shelf’ trophies and decided to put in more thought into the design to create a unique piece. The authority has also moved away from giving different sized trophies, according to the placing.

The beautifully designed RC44 Valletta Cup Trophy, which stands 28cm high and weighs approximately seven kilos was sculpted using local materials, in this case Gozitan hard stone. This stone has been used extensively by the renowned architect Renzo Piano, in the new Maltese parliament building, and is slowly becoming an integral part of Valletta’s contemporary architectural image.

The 2015 RC44 Valletta Cup, which will be the year’s 2015 Championship Tour season-opener set to take place in Malta’s renowned capital of Valletta, the historic ‘City of Knights’, from 25-29 March.