Showstoppers

Tina Berres Filipski - July 23, 2021

This year, 14 suppliers and two distributors were awarded PPAI Pyramids for exceptional craftsmanship in supplier decorating in 24 categories.

The annual Pyramid award program also recognizes creative excellence in Marketing Programs, Client Programs and Technology categories, along with Supplier Stars honoring supplier companies that meet the highest standards in creativity, dependability and customer service.

Since its debut in 1958, the PPAI Pyramid continues to reign as the industry’s most coveted company award. PPAI congratulates this year’s exceptional winners in supplier decorating and thanks sponsor St Regis Group.

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Bloomington, Indiana

A full series of highly impressive cast ornaments was brought to life by Indiana Metal Craft. The clean relief, high-definition detail and the consistency of each element are excellent examples of the craft of fine pewter spin casting.

Carrollton, Texas

Promo PSI used two processes on one bag to achieve the right look for their client. Heat transfer allowed for an exact PANTONE color match on the striping and, combined with metallic silver foil stamping for the text, creates the illusion that the Lyndon logo pops off the bag.

Dallas, Texas

Opti Print and Fulfillment was challenged to create a distinctively unique catalog to attract baseball memorabilia buyers for Heritage Auction. The catalog was printed, cover-bound, scored and trimmed to size using an 11-color UV offset process. This approach gave a 3D affect to the 50-year-old photo and reveals a hidden image as the catalog is moved side to side. This stunning piece became a one-of-a-kind collectors’ item.

Union, Illinois

Partnering with distributor Proforma Albrecht & Co., BAG MAKERS produced custom retail-inspired bags for FAST Enterprises. This laminated non-woven tote is designed to be durable and strong featuring a subtle tone-on-tone and mixed-finish print with a repeating gloss lamination logo over a matte black lamination background. The interior showcases a contrasting colorful blue background with a white repeating logo.

Union, Illinois

Dietrich’s Meats & Country Store custom-laminated bag was designed by BAG MAKERS to be reusable and easily cleaned. It features four-color printing on all sides, a plastic bottom board, laminated handles and piping. The key design feature of this beautiful bag is the lamination applied to both the interior and exterior.

Celina, Ohio

This unique award from Visions stands out both in size and appearance. The large hand-painted totem pole was created in wood using custom carving to create an authentic look. The smaller pieces were achieved by digitally printing and custom-laser cutting acrylic overlays that were placed on standard AwardLab columns with raised fasteners to achieve the totem pole image, adding dimension and creating a truly unique award.

Castle Rock, Colorado

Ads On Magnets created an easier way to replace and update beer tap handles. Wooden laser-engraved tap handles were fitted with a steel plate on one side allowing for custom-designed domed magnets to feature the beer logo. This new design allows the client to save money and creates a giveaway when promoting new brews. The new, domed beer tap magnets are a good mix of economical feasibility and functionality.

San Diego, California

Terry Town’s microfiber robe features an exotic depiction of the Babylonian goddess of wine. Using tack-down and multiple thread colors to create texture allows for the viewer to distinguish various parts of the body, producing depth on a small footprint. The goddess is shown floating in the sea, armed with a wine glass in one hand and a bunch of grapes in the other. The logo detail captured on the embroidery is quite extraordinary.

Avenel, New Jersey

Vantage digitized this oversize Clean Ocean Action logo in less than 10,000 stitches—keeping it light enough for a performance fabric while still being large enough to maximize photo ops at media events. Expert blending and decorative stitch techniques throughout the logo accomplished this realistic interpretation with just four embroidery colors.

Avenel, New Jersey

This high-energy logo uses fun embroidery techniques and expert digitizing to bring The Shredheadz characters to the main stage. Vantage Apparel’s use of 90,000-plus stitches, including applique and metallic thread, plus the details, colors and textures combine to create
show-stopping merchandise.

San Diego, California

The University of California Santa Barbara swim team chose Terry Town’s Grab-n-Go Travel Blanket as its item of choice to display school pride. The bag features a 60,000-stitch-count logo of the school mascot with impeccable detail. Color gradients and the use of multiple thread colors bring this menacing mascot to life, proving embroidery is still a sought-after decoration technique.

National City, California

A+ Wine Designs turned a paper wine label into a large-format, etched design. The bottle was sand-carved, sprayed with an ivory PMS-matched enamel paint, then using mocha enamel hand-painting with a unique capping technique to achieve a design with both sass and flair.

National City, California

Using a reverse no-color etch to achieve a frosted, textured background on a decanter created an artistic design in the glass. A+ Wine Designs’ decanter, paired with a rustic laser-engraved wood crate, achieved a unique and memorable retirement gift for the client.

Bloomington, Indiana

To celebrate its 90th anniversary, Altec commissioned an heirloom-quality ornament to commemorate the celebration. Indiana Metal Craft’s solid brass ornament incorporates a seasonal scene with a skillful mix of precise machining on the radiating lines, copy, cabin and machinery next to sculpted snow, trees and a banner before being oxidized, hand buffed, clear coated and packed into a pouch for a beautiful presentation.

Bloomington, Indiana

Indiana Metal Craft fulfilled French Lick Casino’s desire for commemorative ornaments to showcase its history with the creation of a full series of major-league designed ornaments. Impressively cast and finished with tightly registered digital print, this collectible series combines the best of pewter spin-casting with masterful relief-printing, presenting a hand-painted look.

Las Vegas, Nevada

CounterPoint’s Vynex SuperDuty Counter Mat is an eye-catching example of digital offset lithography. The custom art is printed on a PVC sheet with a digital offset lithography press and laminated with a durable vynex surface. The counter mat shows the stunning beauty of the Irish cream when first mixed with coffee and conveys the warm feeling consumers feel when enjoying a beverage.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Digispec’s original fabric mousepads showcase Pinkbox Doughnuts’ delicious treats. Expert color correction paired with precise heat and pressure forces each dye particle to explode into the fabric, resulting in a brilliant, full-color dye-sublimation. The mousepad creates a beautiful canvas filled with vibrant color and fine detail, bringing the Pinkbox image to life.

Las Vegas, Nevada

GXP selected CounterPoint’s OriginL Fabric surface counter mat to communicate the quality of its product. The artwork overlays specific digital details over a photograph that displays an intricate, vibrantly-colored cityscape. With careful color correction and extraordinary dot gain control, the counter mat comes to life resulting in a clean, crisp full- color dye sublimation on a fabric surface.

Dallas, Texas

Combining layers of images to create a unique LP cover for a limited release vinyl record pressing, Opti Print and Fulfillment brought the Jonas Brothers’ 3D Concert Experience to life. It was printed on a 3D lens with an 11-color UV press and then adhesive was applied to the back with a release liner for placement on the album cover.

Tampa, Florida

DIY Projects from Triumph^® Calendars combines technology with a traditional calendar. Using the Pixaction 2.0 app, the end user can watch helpful do-it-yourself videos by simply scanning the code next to the beautiful coordinating imagery. These calendars are a unique and modern way to cement the relationship between a business and its customer.

Greensboro, North Carolina

Claflin University’s necktie, created by Buffalo Bay, showcases its panther mascot to the fullest advantage. Design elements include contrasting colors and alternating smooth and king twill weaves that add depth to the top of the tie. The logo placement at the bottom allows for a larger image with more detail, keeping the smaller components of the panther’s eye, teeth and whiskers visible.

Blanchester, Ohio

The Allen Company’s seven-color imprinted black mug is decorated using silk screening with seven screens for a PMS-color match and a black disappearing ink applied separately. When adding hot liquid to the coffee mug, the DeanHouston+ hidden message is revealed creating a unique design.

National City, California

San Jose, California

An A+ Wine Designs client commissioned a Halloween-themed wine bottle with special packaging to celebrate the new EVIL television show. This magnificent bottle was sand-carved, painted with PMS-matched enamel paint and hand-painted with gold glitter. The final chilling touches included placement of the EVIL wine bottle and chocolate “eyeballs” in a white tuck box with orange crinkle paper, before being gift-wrapped in black paper with an orange organza bow.

Dallas, Texas

Plano, Texas

The Opti Red Reveal was the perfect way to highlight the Extraordinary Sights theme of The PPAI Expo. Using a UV offset print on an 11-color press followed with the application of a red-reveal film, it created an engaging, interactive lasting memory viewable using the supplied red-reveal glasses.

Watch for PPAI’s September announcement of the 2022 Pyramid Award finalists in all categories; winners will be announced in December. Both announcements will be made in PPAI’s bi-weekly e-newsletter, PPB Newslink. It’s free to subscribe to the newsletter, delivered Tuesdays and Thursdays. Visit: pubs.ppai.org/subscribe

Tina Berres Filipski is editor of PPB.

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