This autumn we decided to launch our own product shop on Redbubble. The idea has been cooking in our heads for years, but we didn’t have the time nor the right sustainable supplier to support it.
Studio GLUE is no stranger to product design. Throughout our creative director’s graphic design career, she’d designed many products from perfume and food packaging to creating special edition inflight meal brand for a leading Asia Pacific airline.
During our River to River, Coast to Coast event at the HF Arts Fest in 2018, we discussed the ocean plastics pollution issue deeply. After the Rain’s fieldwork found that micro-businesses in Malaysia simply can’t afford to refuse single-use plastics because they’re the cheapest alternative out there. Eco-friendly packaging is simply too expensive and positioned as premium products targeted to the elites.
We had conversations with sustainable design leaders such as Bali-based, Kristine Harper, and Devonshire-based, The Point, on this topic.
Enter on-demand
Indeed, even Redbubble – one of the better supply chain platforms out there – didn’t leave us with a high profit margin. This is because the production is based on small quantity, on-demand purchases. On the upside, independent shops like us don’t need to do a bulk order and hire a warehouse to store our products. Redbubble also assigns the customers’ orders to the nearest local manufacturers or printers, which helps reduce the carbon footprint.
So, in short, we probably won’t make a massive profit out of this at the time being, but we can sleep better at night. We want that for everyone else too. Let’s try our best.
From idea developments to product design.
Meditative drawings
Our first collection series, Suasana, features meditative watercolour drawings of roses from Fulham and West London.
“Meditative drawings are artworks that you create to calm your mind and stay present in the moment.”
Drawing the flowers was a slow process that took place over several spring and summer seasons.
The details aren’t perfect up close but once they’re arranged together, they make compelling tapestries. Just like Nature. We hope you’ll enjoy them.
Check out our alohaglue.redbubble.com
“So, in short, we probably won’t make a massive profit out of this at the time being, but we can sleep better at night. We want that for everyone else too. Let’s try our best.”
— GLUE Studio
Studio GLUE 