St David’s Day: Lois designs Welsh-themed sustainable packaging for Lush

As we celebrate St David’s Day (1 March), Fashion Promotion student Lois Hemmings unveils her design for new sustainable packaging for Lush cosmetics, inspired by one of Wales’ most famous symbols – sheep.

The 21-year-old, from Blackwood, is in her second year of the University of South Wales (USW) degree, and will now see her design on the latest range of knot wraps used by Lush – an alternative to using disposable wrapping paper to package its products – in stores across the UK.

Inspired by furoshiki, an ancient Japanese tradition that uses techniques similar to origami, a knot wrap is a piece of ornately decorated fabric that can be used to wrap almost anything. The Lush knot wraps are made from organic cotton and aim to encourage customers to avoid single-use materials to take home their shopping.

Lois fought off competition from the rest of her course mates to be chosen for the project, set by Lush to find a design that was unmistakably Welsh, after submitting designs featuring love spoons and daffodils as well as sheep.

“I was in total shock when Lush told me that I’d won the design brief,” said Lois, who attended Blackwood Comprehensive School and Cross Keys College before studying at USW.

“I love the company, so to be able to work closely with them on creating the knot wrap was a dream come true.”

The design team at Lush asked Lois to combine elements of her love spoon ideas, creating a rainbow heart pattern to feature on the knot wrap. She then worked with them to choose the best colours and talk through the production process. Lush have now produced 50,000 knot wraps using Lois’ design, which are available to buy online and in the Cardiff store now: https://www.lush.com/uk/en/p/baaa-ch-knot-wrap

Lois added: “It was a lot of fun to get involved more in the graphic design side of Fashion, as it’s not something I’ve done before. But it’s now one of my favourite elements of my course, and has inspired me to look at a career in graphics or branding within the industry.

“Having the opportunity to work with a national company like Lush has been fantastic, as it’s helped me realise what goes into creating these products and how I could work on something similar in the future.”

Emma Jones, course leader for Fashion Promotion at USW, added: “The BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion degree is driven by a sustainable approach to design in theory and practice.

"My passion is to close the gap between the classroom and the fashion industry, and I aim to provide students with opportunities to apply their learning as soon as possible to live briefs, or in the workplace. This develops commercial awareness, confidence and sparks career aspirations.

“Collaborating with ethical trailblazers Lush is a perfect example of how we integrate sustainability, branding and commercial creativity within our curriculum. This live brief enabled students to experience challenges encountered in the real world, such as competition, working to tight deadlines and pitching their designs to the client. The class responded brilliantly and thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience.”

Suzie Hackney, Gifts Creative and Category Lead at Lush, said: “I was really pleased to be involved in this brief with USW and it's a fantastic opportunity to celebrate design from Wales. Lois has done a fantastic job with this bright, bold and joyful design – a very welcome design to add to the Lush archive of knot wraps, and another way for our customers to wrap their gifts in a beautiful and sustainable way!”