Dankotuwa produces ERI trophy in porcelain for the windies tour

Dankotuwa produces ERI trophy in porcelain for the Windies Tour Creating history, Dankotuwa Porcelain PLC produced the three ERI trophies for the West Indies – Sri Lanka cricket series in porcelain with gold and platinum coating. This is believed to be the first time that a trophy has been produced in porcelain. "The challenge to produce a trophy in porcelain was given to us by our new parent company ERI just a few days ago. Being a creative company, having a talented set of people, we took up the challenge and a team from design, modeling, casting, forming, firing, glazing, printing and decoration departments led by Dr Farook, GM (Technical), produced an amazing result" said Sunil G Wijesinha, Chairman of the Company. Wijesinha who was at the launch of the test trophy and press conference at Cinnamon Grand on Tuesday also commented that the best compliment was from the West Indies captain who commented, before answering the first question directed at him, that it was a "beautiful trophy". When the trophy was launched and came into view amidst a cloud of smoke there were many gasps heard from the audience.

ERI comes out with very creative ideas and although Dankotuwa had no experience with previous porcelain trophies and hardly any time to research, a special team from several departments came together, and planned it.

Porcelain is a very difficult product to make and has to go through four firings apart from many drying stages. In making porcelain cast items the first step is the design which requires many calculations since the product shrinks in the second firing at over 1,300 degrees Celsius for over 28 hours. The designers also have to take into consideration the vulnerable areas that may warp during firing. Once the design is completed a mould is made after which the item is cast, dried and then "biscuit" fired to make it hard and porous. Glazing is the next step where it is immersed in a glaze solution. The glost firing is the next and most important stage after which it is either covered by a specially printed decal or in this case manually coated with special 24 carat gold and platinum. Finally it is once again fired to fix the colours and the precious metals. In this case two firings were necessary. "We were able to create this wonderful piece of art due to the creativity of staff, the passion to produce something unique and our wonderful team spirit" said Dr Farook adding that now, inspired by the porcelain trophy, many of the employees want to attend the matches. Dankotuwa has many cricket enthusiasts and many good cricketers and this was demonstrated when Dankotuwa emerged champions in the recent inter-ceramic cricket tournament sponsored by Laughs Gas. This has made it even more exciting for the employees of Dankotuwa.

Unlike most other metal trophies this trophy needs very little care since the gold will not tarnish. It only needs a cleaning with a soft cloth once in a while.

Dankotuwa specializes in custom made products and caters to niche markets and is not a volume player in the porcelain tableware business.

source - www.island.lk