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It seems only yesterday that Haig Oundjian, Watford Football Club’s former vice-chairman, was at the peak of his career as one of Britiain’s top ice skaters. With a ‘big birthday’ due in May this year (2009), his family commissioned award-winning sculptor Rocca Gutteridge to create a tribute to his success. Haig won the Men’s British Figure Skating Championship three times (1968, 1969 and 1971), represented Great Britiain at the Winter Olympics in Grenoble in 1968 and then Sapporo in 1972.
Having been approached by Haig’s wife Kerri, Rocca worked closely with the couple to understand the subject and capture its essence. As she explained: “I wanted to capture the action and movement of the skater as they move across the ice. The slate represents the cold, hard, ice and the stainless-steel shards pierce the slate which is carved to create the lines we associate with movement on ice. I chose slate as I knew that carving it would create exactly the effect I wanted and Riverstone’s beautiful quartz veining added an extra dimension which was a real bonus.”
“I found SSQ through Google. They were really helpful when I contacted them and introduced me to one of their suppliers, Amarestone near Reading. Although I knew what I was looking for, it took a day searching through Amarestone’s vast stock to find a slab with exactly the right colour and amount of quartz veining and then another long, hard day to bring it all together. I’d like to thank Steve Turner and stonemasons Ben Dixon and Kevin Drake for their patience and technical expertise.”
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