The crystal cake for the best designers of 2024 was made by Moser glassmakers

Symbolic meaning

“During the festive evening at The Estates Theatre, each awardee received one piece of the crystal cake as a symbol that only together we create an art scene, and the only way to move forward is the intersection of disciplines. We’re each a piece of the whole,” explained Jan Plecháč.

The corpus of the cake, made of the purest glossy crystal, was “cut” into 11 pieces, where each was adorned with crystal stones in various colours (violet alexandrite, greenish beryl, yellow uranium, and clear crystal). The overall winner received then the slice of cake decorated with gilded crystal. The matte crystal stones are reminiscent of pieces of fruit, having been cut into irregular shapes. Each piece of cake features the sanded inscription CGD 24 Czech Grand Design on its side.

Flawless handiwork

The striking crystal cake took the breath away of all those present; they appreciated both its symbolic meaning and its flawless handiwork. Everything was handmade, with the piece passing through 15 different pairs of hands before it was brought to perfection and prepared for the award ceremony. Moser glassmakers worked on it for 12 days. “The most challenging part was the cutting, where we had to seriously focus on being precise, given the cake has 11 pieces that need to create a perfect circle when placed together. A special grinding wheel with a negative radius was used to work down each slice of cake, turning any sharp edges into rounded ones,” explained master cutter Michal Kožený.

The main prize was handed over by Moser’s Knight

The piece of cake with the gilded adornment and gold-sanded inscription was awarded to designer Jan Černý, the overall winner of CGD 2024, by Zdeněk Drobný, the legendary Moser glassmaking master, who received the prestigious title of Knight last year.