Associated Press

Beijing, Apr 27: The torch for the 29th Olympiad incorporates several symbols of Chinese culture, philosophy and art.

The design pays homage to the ancient Chinese reverence of harmony and centre while evoking the Olympic spirit using colour, shape, decoration, texture and technology.

The award-winning Lenovo design team, comprising of more than 30 specialists from across the globe, spent more than 10 months developing the style of the torch.

"Cloud, for Chinese, you know, means coming together, floating and creating some new things. That is very similar to the Olympic theme - people come together, sharing the happiness together," said Yao Yingjia, Chief designer of Lenovo Innovation Design Centre.

The form of the torch is based on a curled sheet of paper - one of the four major inventions that China has given the world. Made of aluminium alloy, the total weight of the torch is just 1,000 grams.

The design group have gone through some difficult processes on the way to turning their ideas into a reality though.

"It is a major technical issue to put the texture of the cloud on the surface of a curled metal piece. We finally made it after going through several failures. To put this kind of texture of such an object and let them match perfectly, we not only need to maintain the sharpness of the painting, but also need to let the texture have a vision of extension and that can satisfy our fundamental ideas," said Yao Yingjia, Chief designer of Lenovo Innovation Design Centre.

It is not the first time that Yao's team have contributed towards the Olympics - they also participated in the bid to provide the Beijing Olympic logo design, but did not win.

Lenovo were successful in their attempts to design the Olympic torch though and the process has provided the perfect stage for the team's artistic talents.

"When we were doing the design of the torch, we have a better stage to demonstrate our talent because there is a greater theme and a greater background for the Olympics. So we have a much larger stage on which our mind and our emotion can dance in a more active way," said Yao Yingjia, Chief designer of Lenovo Innovation Design Centre.

The lighting of the Olympic flame will take place in Olympia, Greece next March, marking the start of the international phase of the torch relay.

The torch will then be carried for 97,000 Kilometres (60,000 miles) through 23 international cities in six continents. Like the torch, the full route will be unveiled in Beijing on Thursday.