London company appointed as Olympic torch designers

01 March 2011 | Posted in Infrastructure, Olympics, Europe | By Tom Love

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) have announced the designers of the Olympic Torch ahead of the Torch relay of the 2012 Olympic Games.

The Olympic Torch, which is expected to be unveiled in June 2011, will be crafted by London based designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby. Based in the East London borough of Hackney, less than four miles from the Olympic site in Stratford, Barber and Osgerby will create the Torch set to carry the famous Olympic Flame through the streets of the English capital in next year’s 70-day relay from 18th May 2012 to the 27th of July.

Sebastian Coe, Locog chairman said: “The Olympic flame will literally shine a light on inspiring people, places and 2012 Games projects and programmes right across the UK as communities begin their Olympic celebrations with the Torch Relay.”

Coe added: “95 per cent of the UK population will be within a one hour journey time of the Olympic Torch Relay and we are now developing the Torch which will be one of the key visual icons of the London Olympic Games.”

Barber and Osgerby last year won a competitive tender launched by Locog and Britain’s Design Council to create the torch as well as the Olympic celebration cauldrons which will be used during the relay at the lunchtime stops and evening celebrations. Additionally, it has been announced that Barber and Osgerby are to work on design aspects for the Torch relay of the Paralympic Games in August.

David Kester, chief executive of the Design Council expressed his delight at the news: “Arguably this is one of the most visible design briefs in the world, literally billions of eyes will be on the Olympic flame in 2012. I am delighted that Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby have won this commission and wish them well as standard bearers for UK design.”

The Olympic flame, a tribute of the theft of fire by Prometheus from the Greek god Zeus, will arrive in the UK from its native Greece on 18th May 2012.  The relay for the 2012 Olympics will see 8,000 torchbearers carry the flame around the UK, focusing on heritage sites.

The 2012 summer Olympics are scheduled to take place from 27th July to 12th August.

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