TfL sponsors limited-edition Oyster wallets

Established & Sons and Made Thought have collaborated on a limited-edition Oyster travelcard wallet for Transport for London, to celebrate this month’s London Design Festival.

Transport for London met Established & Sons through a mutual contact after expressing an interest in finding a ‘quintessentially British design company’ to work with on a travelcard holder for the LDF, says a TfL spokeswoman.

TfL plans to commission a different design-based company to produce a wallet design marking the LDF every year.

This year, the wallet features images of British woodland creatures, the ‘urban fox’ and the ‘urban badger’ (pictured), and contains a miniature Tube map and a list of key design venues in and around London. Alasdhair Willis, co-founder of design-led furniture manufacturer Established & Sons, collaborated with Made Thought on the design. The consultancy has worked with Established & Sons since branding the company in 2005.

‘We wanted to create a visual that transported you out of the city, that would maybe take your thoughts momentarily elsewhere,’ says Willis.

He adds, ‘The wildlife drawings force a double take, and a brief questioning as to “why?”, but ultimately it is fun and reflects the Britishness of our brand.’

Made Thought director Ben Parker adds that, ‘Established & Sons wanted something really British and quirky, and we didn’t really want to go for a big typographical approach with this project’.

The Established & Sons logo also appears on the wallet, which, Parker says, ‘adds weirdness because it juxtaposes with the illustration’.