In episode 05 of Sustainability by Design, Giff sits down with Ann Claes, co-founder of MASJIEN, a technology and sustainability agency working at the intersection of fashion, innovation and systems change. Ann describes herself as a techno optimist - someone who genuinely believes technology can help move the industry forward, and that sustainability has far more opportunity ahead of it than the doom-heavy conversation around it suggests.

In collaboration with sustainability consultancy Common Ground, we’ve been commissioned to create the 2025 Impact Report for sustainable fashion brand ARMEDANGELS. It’s a project that sits firmly at the intersection of strategy, storytelling and design, turning complex sustainability data into something clear, credible and engaging. The online report brings together ARMEDANGELS’ strategic pillars, Moonshot goals and 2025 performance, alongside detailed insight into materials, processes and supply chain. It’s designed not just to report progress, but to make it understandable and usable, internally and externally.

In episode 04 of Sustainability by Design, Giff sits down with Will Hayler, co-founder and CEO of Blue Earth Summit, the movement bringing entrepreneurs, investors, NGOs and creatives together around a shared commitment to transforming the way the world works.

TURBO, a new experimental platform exploring how technology can accelerate sustainability in fashion, launches this month at Berlin Fashion Week. The project will be unveiled through a keynote by Ann Claes of Masjien at METAMORPHOSIS on Saturday 30 January in Berlin.

In episode 03 of Sustainability by Design, Giff sits down with Georgia-Rae Taylor, founder of Common Ground, a strategic sustainability and communications consultancy built on the belief that sustainability only becomes powerful when it stops living in a silo and starts speaking the same language as the brand.

In episode 02 of Sustainability by Design, Giff sits down with Harriet Vocking, founder of For Tomorrow, whose 14 years at the centre of sustainable fashion and communications include building Eco-Age alongside Livia Firth, travelling supply chains in Bangladesh, the Amazon and Botswana, and using the red carpet as a platform for genuine sustainability storytelling.

Waste is one of the world’s biggest problems. Which is why it was refreshing to work on a campaign focused on a real solution, rather than another reminder of how bad things have become. We worked with the Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA) on a campaign about co-processing: a proven way of dealing with

In episode 01 of Sustainability by Design, Giff speaks with Heather Smith of HSC, the consultant who realised that Croxley Park’s sustainability story didn’t need more action, it needed to be seen.

Today is World Homeless Day, and we’re using our work to highlight an issue that’s impossible to ignore – homelessness on London’s streets. Last year, 13,231 people slept rough in the capital, the highest number ever recorded. Thousands more are on the edge.

Greenwashing has become fashion’s dirtiest trend. Investigations have shown that the majority of sustainability claims made by fashion brands are misleading or false. And only 3% of items in UK and US collections carry genuine sustainability credentials. That’s not progress. That’s a crisis of trust.

As designers, we believe in the power of visual communication to provoke thought, ignite emotion, and drive change. That’s why we created a bold and unsettling campaign to confront an issue that can no longer be ignored: the relentless discharge of raw sewage into our rivers and seas by water companies.

Born from the spirit of the Green Carpet Fashion Awards, Threads of Change brings together creative leaders, changemakers, and bold voices to honor those driving impact at the intersection of fashion, culture, and community.

This year’s season’s greetings come with a warning; 2024 is projected to be the first year to surpass the global warming limit of 1.5°C, highlighting the urgent need for climate action.

We’re marking 40 years of London Fashion Week with a reality check. Our latest Blast Campaign highlights the impact our shopping habits and obsession with ‘adding to basket’ is having on our planet.

This time of year often poses challenges for many, casting a shadow on life’s usual brightness. Great Mental Health Day urges Londoners to open up about their mental well-being, emphasising that seeking help is perfectly acceptable.

Wishing you a Christmas filled with serenity and a New Year where, in the words of John Lennon, ‘the world will live as one’. This year, instead of printing cards and treating our clients (sorry folks!), we are donating to the British Red Cross to bring a little help and hope to the victims of the Gaza conflict.

Every company wields the power to shape the environmental narrative. It’s a profound truth that those with the potential to impact the planet negatively also bear the greatest opportunity to enact positive change. It’s a subtle dance between potential harm and the golden chance to do some good.

Once in a blue moon, a client emerges, poised to transform the world, and rarer still, one with the potential to save it. Enter Bloom Labs… In a fashion-forward feat, they’ve harnessed the alchemy of science to transform keratin from chicken feathers into versatile pellets, ready to weave into the fabric of change—be it cashmere, silk, cotton, or even polyester. The magic?

It’s more than just a balmy July here at Mission Control; It’s Plastic Free July! So, in addition to swerving all types of malleable polymers, we’ve created a poster campaign to highlight the harm of single-use plastic. Often used excessively and discarded without care, single-use plastic is damaging environments around the world. Astonishingly, over 15 million tons of it is thrown away every month – which sucks!

Another strange year that brought us many things we didn’t ask for, from bumbling British politics to cringeworthy celebrities. Here’s a few reminders of some of 2022’s more baffling moments. Happy New Year from the team at Blast. Hoping for a brighter 2023, that brings us things we really want.

For the third in our series of road sign themed posters aimed at passing drivers and pedestrians, we’ve created a new campaign for International Migrants Day. Migrants and displaced people represent some of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups in society, and are often exposed to abuse, exploitation and xenophobic attacks fuelled by misinformation.

Following last months poster for the United Nations International Clean Air for Blue Skies Day we’ve designed a new campaign for World Mental Health Day. Continuing with the road sign theme, this one utilises the psychedelic illustration skills of our latest Blast crew member, Pewand.

As designers we want to use our ideas and skills to raise awareness of causes and events we believe in. So we’re designing poster campaigns that will make people think about their actions and behaviours and hopefully be a small catalyst for change. Our campaigns communicate directly to passing traffic and our local community through an old poster site at the entrance to our studio in Hackney.

Beautifully designed and produced print has an impact, appeal and value that is very hard to match digitally. Ask yourself; when did you last purr with delight when opening a PDF file? Unusual materials, textures, finishes, formats, folding and packaging combine to pique the senses.

The production of clothing and footwear is responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. More than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Not cool. Thankfully the fashion world is starting to wake up. Brands are falling over themselves to justify the sustainable creds of their processes and materials – bleating on about garment wear life, end-of-life solutions and circularity advancements – and that includes the nasty one’s made from plastic!

Following the huge cop out that was COP 26, we thought we should celebrate a green Christmas this year. So, instead of producing a printed card, we’ve gone tree-friendly with our 100% paper-free, climate emergency-inspired offering. As our trees and forests are essential in the fight against climate change we’ve also decided to make a donation to Greenpeace.

We turned 25 this year, but instead of reflecting on the past we decided to look forward to the next phase of our journey. We want to do something meaningful and help contribute to a brighter future. Mid-life crisis? No, more environmental crisis! So what can we do to make a difference? We believe we’ll have the most impact by using our skills and experience as designers and communicators to spread the word of causes we believe in.

For our latest project with the Ashmolean Museum, we were asked to redesign their Souvenir Guide. A key publication for the museum, this comprehensive 100 page book covers all the highlights of their world-class collections. Arranged chronologically the objects are designed to appear on a continuous timeline, ranging from ancient artefacts to modern art.

Launching in 1996, we embarked on our journey into the unknown. Making contact with like-minded clients we began exploring and discovering creative possibilities for brands and organisations. Our 25 year mission has seen us create brands for word-class universities, museums and orchestras. Collaborate with the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Warner Bros. Studios. And launch campaigns for UK Parliament, The Royal Society, Wellcome and Tate.

Our latest education brand identity has just launched for South Thames Colleges Group. Formed through the merger of South Thames, Kingston, Merton and Carshalton Colleges, the Group provides Further and Higher Education opportunities for thousands of students across South West London.

2020 gave a lot, but nothing we really wanted. It really has been a year to forget. Due to the current Covid situation our Christmas offering is designed for Instagram, and is guaranteed 100% virus free! So turn up your sound, put on your mask and mumble along to our 12 ‘gifts’ of 2020.

We’re really excited to have been invited to contribute to the letterpress protest posters exhibition: Reverting to Type 2020 Blast’s contributions to this international show are the ‘Trump & Brexit’ (2016) and ‘Love & Hate’ (2018) posters. 

Having developed a new brand identity with the Ashmolean Museum Oxford last year, it was great to be invited to produce this year’s Annual Review. Giving us the opportunity to express the new identity in print, we brought the brand’s timeline concept to life with an opening spread presenting the Ashmolean’s eventful ‘year to view’. The line then runs through the Review with the ‘A’ logo highlighting each chapter heading.

Investing in local communities, sustainable management of precious natural resources, promoting female empowerment and investing in education. Not what you’d normally associate with diamond production – but this is ‘the other side of the diamond industry’. The side the newly named and re-branded Natural Diamond Council (NDC) want the world to know about. Their members – the world’s top diamond producers – have signed up to a series of pledges, aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, to create a better future for its people and the planet.

We like to think it was our new brand identity that resulted in a 32% rise in activities during UK Parliament Week last year – with over 1.2 million people taking part. But we have to concede that Brexit may have had a little something to do with it. But who would have thought something would come along this year to make Brexit look like a squabble over the fence between neighbours! So to reflect the increased focus on Parliament we’ve ramped up the visual identity another notch for this years festival which takes place across the UK this week.

UGG want us to ‘Feel Good’ about buying their boots, shoes, trainers – and even their slippers. They also want us to feel good about the way they treat their people and the planet. Working with sustainability specialists Eco-Age and the UGG team in California, we helped launch their strategy to the world by creating a dedicated website which went live on ‘World Values Day’. Focused around three key pillars, Environment, Community and Innovation, the new site gives context to the brand’s ambitious long-term sustainability goals, projects and global partnerships.

This year Milan fashion week has gone virtual, and so too one of its highlights – the Green Carpet Fashion Awards. Created by Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, as a platform to showcase, celebrate and champion sustainable fashion, celebrities designers and fashionista from across the globe gather on the Green Carpet at the opera house in Milan. But not this year. In 2020 the Awards night will be a revolutionary show, combining cinematic footage with a fusion of augmented reality and visual FX created using real-time game engines, with the world’s leading talent and opinion formers appearing as holograms – and it will be screened on a digital platform designed by Blast.

Thinkbox is the UK’s marketing body for commercial television. We’ve worked together to refine their brand identity and communications, helping to clearly inform stakeholders and audiences of the potential power of TV advertising. We’ve produced a number of on-screen presentations and printed publications, including the last eight years’ annual reviews. Having introduced more contemporary infographics and an editorial layout style, the Review has developed into an informative and authoritative document, that remains friendly, colourful and engaging.

It’s our 24th Birthday today – whoop, whoop! Yes, on the 1st April 1996 Blast was born to the world. At the time our accountant took one look at us and said he’s give us 6 months in business – I wonder what he’s doing now! This seems an appropriate time to put a big shout out to all our amazing friends, clients and collaborators who have made the past 24 years, well, a Blast really. Cheers!