Best Practice:
thomas.matthews

Posted on | September 17, 2008 |

On Tuesday September 16th, day two of greengaged kicked off with a series of best practice case studies from leading design practitioners. The first series of events, focused on Communication and Graphic Design, began with a presentation from Sophie Thomas, director/co-founder of thomas.matthews.

Sophie introduced the work of thomas.matthews, explaining that with a touch of humour, collaboration and a diverse project range the way they do things has “sustainability underpinned thoughout all their projects.” Sophie continued by showcasing thomas.matthews’ work for the British Council, their ‘No Shop’ for Friends of the Earth, and their sustainable exhibition stand for Capita Symonds for the Think08 tradeshow.

Sophie further explained the teams excitement to find an environmentally friendly metallic ink for the design and printing of the Design Council’s recent Good Design Plan.

For further images of the greengaged Best Practice Case Studies, visit Flickr.

Comments

4 Responses to “Best Practice:
thomas.matthews”

Ian Crawford
September 18th, 2008 @ 8:09 pm

Unfortunately I missed this lecture as I was still helping to organise http://www.systemreload.org (please excuse the cheap plug) but I love the “No Shop” image and was very surprised that I haven’t come across it before. It’s a great idea and I commend FOE and thomas.matthews for the effort. There wouldn’t happen to be a video of people walking past would there Sophie?

There are many addictions that we are aware of and openly discuss in “Western” society but I think consumerism is probably the one of the most widespread and the most dangerous, not only in environmental terms but also for our well-being. If we are to have any hope of creating a sustainable society then we will definitely need a new approach to business and economic growth. The New Economics Foundation have some interesting ideas regarding this if anyone wants to know more but for those of a less serious disposition I suggest joining Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping.
Sophie Thomas
September 18th, 2008 @ 10:23 pm

Hi Ian. Sorry- no video footage- though we did have seven TV crews outside filming- so somewhere in the ether you might find something! It’s is strange to think this was done in 1997 and now here we are in a worst position where our consumption of stuff accounts for 3 tonnes of our individual carbon footprint each year.
You mention two very good examples- the first NEF. Nic Marks is with us here on our last Tuesday session at greengaged and well worth hearing. The second- Reverend Billy- what a hero, Let us all sing together and hit those tamborines…!
Design for Print :
September 21st, 2008 @ 5:05 am

[...] really is a piece of print? Sophie explained how when Friends of the Earth approach her company thomas.matthews and asked them to design posters for ‘No Shop Day’, they re-thought the original print [...]
Inhabitat » London Design Festival 2008: Print and Paper Workshop
September 28th, 2008 @ 6:00 am

[...] of print. Sophie elaborated with an anecdote: when Friends of the Earth approached her company, thomas.matthews, and asked them to design posters for ‘No Shop Day’, they re-thought the original print [...]