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Welsh student designs St David’s Day themed packaging for Lush

01 Mar 2023 3 minute read
Lois Hemmings designed a knot wrap for Lush cosmetics with a distinctly Welsh theme

A fashion student from the University of South Wales has designed Welsh themed packaging for cosmetic giant, Lush in time for St David’s Day.

Lois Hemmings created a bold and bright design featuring Welsh sheep for the latest range of sustainable knot wraps used by Lush as an alternative to using disposable wrapping paper in stores across the UK.

The 21-year-old, from Blackwood, is in her second year at USW and was inspired by furoshiki, an ancient Japanese tradition that uses techniques similar to origami to wrap products in a piece of ornately decorated fabric.

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.

The knot wraps are made from organic cotton and aim to encourage customers to avoid single-use materials to take home their shopping.

Lois Hemmings worked with Lush to choose a bright and bold design

Dream

Lois Hemmings said: “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.

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: “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.”


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Lowri
Lowri
1 year ago

Love it!

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