The Gift of Life Baton
The Baton was launched in October last year at Olympic House in the presence of IOC President Thomas Bach by the Australian Ambassador to Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Germany, Mr Phillip Green.
The Baton was designed by Form Designs Australia, an industrial design company based in Perth. The Baton is a gift by the Australian Government and Transplant Australia to the world transplant community and will be handed over at the closing ceremony of this year’s games on April 21.
The baton is designed to act as a universal beacon between each future World Transplant Games and is the culmination of a six-year dream.
Transplant Australia wanted to recognize all donors through a baton, one which would be embraced by any country where it was displayed and one which would inspire more people to support donation through registering or speaking with their families. It needed to have universal acceptance.
It developed a brief working with Media Junction’s Jason Pearce. Jason was ideally suited to help bring the concept to life having had a heart transplant for 5 years. From there Form Designs Australia was chosen to bring the project to life.
Principal Edward Khoury explained: “Form Designs Australia were honoured to be involved in the development of this important, iconic symbol. It was with great pleasure that we could be part of this initiative supporting the Gift of Life.
“Form Designs have been involved in industrial design for four decades and have developed many global products but nothing as remarkable as this.”
The Baton has so far been presented to the Australian Parliament in Canberra and the Parliament of Western Australia. It has also toured hospitals and sporting venues in Perth and surrounding regions.
