Meet the Man Behind the Emmy Award

by Natasha Wolff | July 26, 2018 3:00 pm

The man sitting in front of me is impeccably dressed and unabashedly well-groomed. Suddenly my worn-in Dr. Martens don’t seem so quirky and I wish I would’ve done something with my hair. It’s obvious from his appearance that David Moritz, CEO and founder of Society Awards[1], maintains a keen eye for detail.

Society Awards is the premier luxury design company, manufacturing a roster of awards and trophies for various clients including MTV’s Moon Person, The Voice trophy and the Emmy Award[2]. Since its inception in 2007, Society Awards has gained an impressive reputation for perfecting the entertainment industry’s top awards, thanks to the company and Moritz’s attention to detail. When Moritz explains his motivation for going into the award design industry, it seems so obvious. A natural entrepreneur, Moritz graduated from law school and swiftly abandoned that endeavor when he discovered there was a hole in the luxury design industry for awards and trophies. “I was wondering why the details on custom-designed awards weren’t sharp. So I started to do some research and realized the void for a company like Society Awards was there,” he says.

With an eye for detail and style, Moritz admits that he’s always understood commercial aesthetic, even if it’s not his personal style. This quality has helped Society Awards flourish rapidly over the past ten years, considering the awards have to appeal to a mass audience while remaining special and coveted.

Society Awards

“There’s an emotional aspect when it comes to luxury awards,” he says. “We market the emotional connection people have to the statue or trophy.”

Moritz has had a hand in designing many trophies, and the emotional connection always remains between the client, the winners and the trophy. One would imagine that by investing so much time and energy into creating something, an emotional bond would be made with the end result. But, for Moritz, it’s about creating something beautiful every single time. When I ask him if there are any designs he’s most proud of, he makes it clear that it’s difficult to choose just one because Society Awards does not produce lackluster products. That’s the point of being a luxury brand – everything is high quality. “We designed the first trophy for the winner of The Voice[3] that I’m very proud of,” he finally admits before adding, “We are the experts. We design for our clients but we aren’t going to produce something that isn’t the best.”

Society Awards

Moritz starts to explain the grittier process behind making a statue and his passion is palpable. There are client calls and meetings where someone might have a very specific idea in mind but as the expert in the field, Moritz must guide the client down a more appropriate path. “We won’t turn down a client, but we aren’t going to design something that doesn’t meet our standards. That’s part of being a luxury company,” he says.

With a catalog of clients including the Golden Globes[4], Clio Awards, Dancing With the Stars and American Music Awards, Society Awards is a winning brand that might just deserve a trophy of its own. And you can be sure it will be flawless.

Source URL: https://dujour.com/culture/david-moritz-ceo-founder-society-awards-interview/