Love Welcomes
An identity with a hidden message
Brand idea | Narrative | Identity | Website | Social | Packaging | Communications
Love Welcomes is a creative social enterprise that helps refugee women begin to stitch their lives back together. Each product has a hidden message - made from the discarded life vests that brought them there. Unlike many refugee stories, it’s not one of pity – it’s one of empowerment, of hope and of beauty. This is the story they wanted to tell.
About Love Welcomes
In the grim conditions of the refugee camps there are small groups of women weaving magic from misery – transforming discarded blankets and lifejackets into beautiful, handmade homewares that they sell all over the world. Love Welcomes helps them to support their families, find companionship and assemble a small fragment of normality in a shattered world.
Identity
Love Welcomes wanted to tell the uplifting story behind their beautiful products. Rather than focusing on grief and misery, as charity products sometimes do, Love Welcomes focused on the makers and the beautiful things they create and sell. Each product is a celebration of the human spirit in almost impossible conditions and an object that can become a much-loved part of your home.
The liberating idea was More Than beautiful. These are elegant, quality products. But look again. A tiny glint of orange thread tells you that this beautifully made object has an extraordinary backstory. We can follow that thin orange line right back into the heart of darkness. Into the smoky depths of a refugee camp. And before that, it glowed in the black water of the unlit sea. What you’re seeing here is an extraordinary triumph of the human spirit. More than beautiful, indeed.
In the grim conditions of the refugee camps there are small groups of women weaving magic from misery – transforming discarded blankets and lifejackets into beautiful, handmade homewares that they sell all over the world. Love Welcomes helps them to support their families, find companionship and assemble a small fragment of normality in a shattered world.
Identity
Love Welcomes wanted to tell the uplifting story behind their beautiful products. Rather than focusing on grief and misery, as charity products sometimes do, Love Welcomes focused on the makers and the beautiful things they create and sell. Each product is a celebration of the human spirit in almost impossible conditions and an object that can become a much-loved part of your home.
The liberating idea was More Than beautiful. These are elegant, quality products. But look again. A tiny glint of orange thread tells you that this beautifully made object has an extraordinary backstory. We can follow that thin orange line right back into the heart of darkness. Into the smoky depths of a refugee camp. And before that, it glowed in the black water of the unlit sea. What you’re seeing here is an extraordinary triumph of the human spirit. More than beautiful, indeed.
Dot dot dot. Dash dash dash. Dot dot dot. It’s a sound that freezes the blood. The international distress signal at sea is tapped out in a globally recognised call that transcends languages and cultures. The signature on all Love Welcomes’ products is a single thread of hi-viz orange, salvaged from a discarded lifejacket. It was the only colour we considered for the brandmark. Design by Samuel Morse, colour by fluo.
Transform Awards 2021 Gold | Drum Design Awards 2021 Highly commended | Brand Impact Awards 2021 Winner, Social Impact Award & Bronze, Not-for-Profit