Our Olympic Pin-Up

We’re thrilled to reveal that Bozboz Graphic Designer Julia Zeen has been nominated by Coca-Cola to be an Olympic torchbearer.

The Olympic Flame will arrive in West Sussex on July 16th 2012, and Julia will be one of five torchbearers proudly carrying the Flame as it travels through Lancing on its way to a grand evening celebration on Hove Lawns.

This once in a lifetime opportunity came about as Julia had been designing limited editions of Coca-Cola’s famous Olympic pins, some of which are destined to be worn by athletes and politicians.

What are Olympic pins?

Olympic pins as we know them today can be traced back to Athens 1896 when different coloured cardboard badges were issued to identify athletes, judges and other officials. At later games the badges were made from metal and became more decorative, and pins were often swapped between groups as a sign of friendship and goodwill. Eventually pins were also produced by sponsors and mass produced for sale to the public.

The 1980’s saw an explosion in the popularity of pin collecting, and by 1988 the first official Coca-Cola Olympic Pin Trading Centre opened at the Calgary Winter Games, enabling fans, or’ pinheads’ to buy, sell and swap pins.

The Coca-Cola design brief for the London 2012 Games encompassed London Influences, Sport, and Music and Julia has designed around 80 different pins on these themes.

The pins, which are handmade and hand enamelled, are currently in production. Some of them are destined to be given out to specific participants at the Games, making them highly sought after by collectors.

We’re really very proud of Julia’s achievements, and look forward to cheering her on as she carries a torch for Bozboz on July 16th.