Badge of honour (From The Argus)

Badge of honour

4:09pm Monday 30th July 2012 in Celebrating Sussex By Nione Meakin

As Olympics fever
sweeps the country,
a craze that’s been
dubbed “the unofficial
spectator sport of the Games”
is also in full swing.
Pin trading – the swapping
and selling of metal lapel
badges made to commemorate
the Olympics – is a big part
of the Games for many.
In the 1984 Los Angeles
Olympics, 10,000 people
per day bought and traded
pins; more than two million
changed hands in Barcelona
1992 and an even larger
number are expected to get
involved in this year’s Games.
The design of such
collectable items is a big
responsibility and this year,
it has been split between
30-year-old Julia Zeen, a
graphic designer with Hove’s
BozBoz design agency, and
Stuart Langley, from Tyne
and Wear. The pair won the
commission through sponsor
Coca-Cola’s Future Flames
initative, which celebrates
inspiring young people
across the UK.
Their 182 limited-edition
pin designs are expected to
be sold and traded all over the
world – limited-edition designs
have been known to sell for
hundreds of pounds and Zeen
says she expects many of her
pins to turn up shortly on
internet auction sites.
Those designed for
the opening and
closing ceremonies
of the Olympic and
Paralympic Games
are a very limited
run and so set
to become
especially prized.
“It’s been an
amazing project
to be involved with,”
says Zeen, a Brighton
University illustration
graduate who joined
BozBoz four years ago.
“I went to the Pin Traders
Centre in Hyde Park yesterday
and met someone who’d been
trading since 1984. He had
a whole suitcase full of the
badges. It’s amazing to think
mine will form part of such
collections.”
Zeen’s brief was to bring
out themes of sports and
music and give each design
a distinctly British
flavour. Some
of the pins,
which are
handmade
and
handenamelled,
feature
London
landmarks
such as
Number 10
Downing Street, Big
Ben, Buckingham Palace and
Wembley Stadium; others are
more quirky, with corgis,
bulldogs, teapots and butlers.
“It was interesting to work
out what emblems we think
of as typically British. The
badges are collected by people all over the world so they had to be
instantly recognisable motifs.”
Zeen’s favourite is her Pin Trader design,
in the shape of the lanyards traders wear
and featuring dozens of tiny badges.
“I knew nothing about
this craze when I took this
commission so it’s been
a real eye-opener. After
meeting pin traders and
seeing how enthusiastic
they were, I thought
it would be nice to make
one especially for them.
I met someone wearing one
in Hyde Park, which really
made my day.”
Zeen was thanked for her
contribution to the Olympics by being
asked to be a torch bearer for the flame
when it passed through Lancing earlier
this week. The container is sitting by her
desk when we speak.
“It was an incredible experience, although
nervewracking at first. I got off the bus and
everyone mobbed me – people kept
taking pictures and giving me
their babies to hold. I wasn’t
prepared for just how good
it would be to be part of
something like this.”
 

* Zeen’s designs can
be bought online at
www.cokestore2012.co.uk
or at Coca-Cola’s Pin
Trading Centres in the
Olympic Park and at Hyde
Park. All profits from the sale
of the pins goes to Coca-Cola’s
charity partner StreetGames, which helps
to bring sport to 110,000 young people
in deprived communities in the UK.