Emirati artist Azza Al Qubaisi creates Mubadala Citi DC Open trophy to celebrate women

Abu Dhabi artist and designer has designed two trophies for the 2024 tournament

Emirati artist Azza Al Qubaisi looked to the dynamism of tennis for design inspiration. Photo: Azza Al Qubaisi

Emirati artist Azza Al Qubaisi is the designer behind the trophies for the 2024 Mubadala Citi DC Open tennis tournament.

One in gold for first place and the other in silver for second, the pieces depict a clean, curved, fluid line frozen in movement. The form has a visual tempo that is delicate and dynamic with an elegant energy. These are elements that have always echoed across Al Qubaisi’s practice.

Over the past two decades, her aesthetic has been a distinctive blend of traditional Emirati heritage and contemporary design principles.

Whether it is a colossal, stained sculpture or a small delicate piece of jewellery, Al Qubaisi infuses notions of scale, intricacy and sophistication into her work.

Her trophy for the tennis tournament, which takes place until August 4 in Washington in the US, is no exception.

“To do a very special, unique piece for such an international platform and a tennis tournament specifically for women was such a wonderful opportunity,” Al Qubaisi exclusively tells The National.

This isn’t the only time she has designed a tennis trophy for Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi investment company. She first designed one in 2009 for the Mubadala World Tennis Championship which was won by Rafael Nadal. Then in February, she was behind the trophy for the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open women’s tournament which took place in the capital.

Al Qubaisi was informed a few weeks ago that she would be designing a third trophy, this time for the Washington event, a significant women’s tournament on the tennis calendar. Al Qubaisi says her initial inspiration for the graceful spiral-like shape of the trophy comes from the sport itself.

“The idea revolves around the aspects of movement,” she says.

“Tennis has this nice way of movement through the racquet. I took that aspect, abstracted is and formed the lines that created the trophy itself.”

It was also important for Al Qubaisi to celebrate women.

“This is a women’s tournament, and I wanted the feminine aspect and the curve and lines to also represent and capture that but not directly,” she says.

“I do not say it directly on the face of it, what exactly is the formation that I do, but I allow, and I actually enjoy listening from people, to see what they perceive or see within the trophy itself.”

While the design of the trophy feels as though it could have some Arabic calligraphy elements, Al Qubaisi clarifies that this is not the case entirely.

“Definitely there is a letter but it's not an Arabic letter,” she says. “The design is all about the movement and the fun of it, but indirectly at a certain angle, you actually can see somehow my way of creating a W for woman. But it's not calligraphy and not a direct reference to Arabic calligraphy.”

It was also important for her to create something that felt substantial and functional. Unlike her other works, a trophy won’t necessarily be sitting in a gallery or museum, but it will be held and photographed in a way that most art works are not.

“I see a lot of trophies that are very uncomfortable to hold or to even take a photo with,” she says.

“I considered the angles of how the trophy would be held, how comfortable it is, the weight of the piece, all these aspects. I totally visualise that moment of someone holding it, kissing the trophy and hold holding it up high.”

After it is all done and created, Al Qubaisi says she enjoys the various ways people interpret what they see.

“I'm really looking forward to seeing what people will say about the trophy,” she says. “I know exactly what elements I've put in, what I wanted to be seen, but I always get to see many other layers within the design. I think that's when it becomes a truly successful piece, is when people see beyond the layers that I've put the design through.”

While a trophy can be viewed as an work of art, it’s also the physical personification of all that is needed by an athlete to reach the top of their game. It’s within that space that Al Qubaisi wanted to create something that had elements of her own visual language but was able to exist outside of it, too.

“It's very different to creating an artwork capturing my thoughts and my ideas only [in this way],” she says.

“In the end of the day, I tried to create something that becomes symbolic of the tournament and also detaches from me and can be self-glorified on its own.’