Cheltenham Chamber of Commerce – Presentation Bowl Commission

This presentation bowl was commissioned for Cheltenham Chamber of Commerce to mark the retirement of Michael Ratcliffe MBE following many years of leadership and service.

The original enquiry arrived late in the week, with several possible presentation formats under consideration. To help guide the decision, we prepared a series of digital specification sheets.

The final choice was the shallow presentation bowl. Its broad, low profile allowed the inscription to follow the form of the bowl rather than sit in a conventional front-facing arrangement.

Developing the Layout

The inscription was arranged around the outer curve of the bowl, with the logo positioned centrally. The composition could be read from above while keeping the centre visually calm.

The Chamber logo itself required careful scaling and positioning. Because the bowl is viewed from above as well as from the front, the engraving needed to resolve correctly from multiple angles, something that becomes particularly important on shallow forms where the curvature changes rapidly towards the rim.

An Engraving Layout was supplied before production, showing the final positioning, scale and spacing of the inscription and logo.

Production and Turnaround

Once approval was received, the engraving moved quickly into production.

The bowl was prepared and sandblasted, with particular care given to stencil alignment so the circular inscription followed the curve evenly.

The completed piece was supplied in a blue satin-lined presentation box and prepared for formal presentation the following day.

Outcome

The finished bowl uses its own geometry to determine the composition, with the circular inscription following the form of the piece and the logo held centrally.