- Voices of the Ocean
Plushies with a Purpose: A Modelmaker’s Mission to Rescue Coral Reefs.
As an Australian, I was fortunate to grow up taking trips to the beautiful Great Barrier Reef but in recent years, the reef has declined at an alarming rate.
The Great Barrier Reef has faced a series of mass bleaching events, losing 29% of shallow water corals in 2016 alone. I was devastated to witness the disastrous effects climate change had on such a beautiful natural wonder. I became determined to use my unique model making skills to engage and educate others on environmental awareness.
My name is Matisse and I’m currently in my final year at Arts University Bournemouth studying Modelmaking.
One evening, while chatting about my ideas in a ceramics class, another attendee mentioned they had a contact at Ocean Generation who might be interested in collaborating and from there, my project was born…
I created a fictional campaign, aimed at raising awareness and support for the Great Barrier Reef.
The project has three parts: collectible sea creature figures; packaging; and advertisements featuring these Ocean critters that direct the public’s attention to Ocean Generation. The adverts carry the essential message about the importance of protecting marine ecosystems through providing financial support for critical research in rebuilding our planet. As a token of appreciation, donors would receive these quirky, cuddly critters as a thank-you gift—complete with custom packaging, of course.
I’m a very illustrative maker with a passion for anthropomorphic character design. I love creating cartoony, expressive figures that captivate audiences and bring a lighthearted touch to serious topics.
How the tiny Ocean critters came to life.
I spent a large portion of this project designing the collectible figures component. I wanted them to be instantly recognisable as reef creatures—bright, flamboyant, and full of personality to spark curiosity.
Each character was meticulously crafted to be a playful and colourful representation of the reef’s vibrant inhabitants and to make people laugh and smile! Making these collectibles out of soft materials symbolises the fragile nature of our aquatic environment and conveys how easily carefree actions can cause damage.
After six weeks of experimenting, countless trips to Hobbycraft and almost losing a finger or two, I completed my five collectible characters! As someone who is used to more hard-edge modelling in a workshop, I wanted to challenge my problem- solving abilities and push myself into completely unfamiliar territory. I learnt how to hand sew, needle felt, crochet, and many other techniques too.
Each character was crafted to be visually engaging and photogenic for the adverts, using a variety of textures, colours, and mixed materials.
As the collectibles were to be gifted to donors, I designed special-edition packaging to house them. After several iterations, I settled on a giant life jacket concept— which ties perfectly into the campaign name, Reef Rescue. The packaging features the story behind the campaign along with links to Ocean Generation’s website where all the other amazing work this charity has done can be viewed.
Once the design was finalised, the artwork was sent to industrial printers in the graphics department. The printed pages were then laser cut into shape and each folded by hand. Adding a belt buckle and tear strip to open the box were the finishing touches!
Next step: Seaside photoshoot with the critters
With all my components assembled, I packed up all my new felted friends and took them to the beach to take photos for the campaign adverts and showcase the whimsical characters in a natural beach setting.
This was also my first time using a proper camera that was not my phone to take pictures, so it took a while to get the hang of but, in the end, I managed to take some really high quality ones. Using Photoshop, I cleaned up the pictures and added a slogan, the Ocean Generation logo and some extra information too.
I even mocked up how the ads would look on real-world billboards and bus stops, giving a sense of how the campaign could work in reality.
Check out the plushies:
Throughout this project, I provided updates to my contact at Ocean Generation, Gemma Connell, who was extremely kind, providing me with feedback and useful links with information for me to use in my work. They made my project a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience for me-thank you Gemma!
Thank you for raising your voice for the Ocean, Matisse!
Disclaimer: This is a fictional student project created for educational purposes. Ocean Generation does not sell or distribute these collectible critters, and the Reef Rescue campaign is not an official initiative by the charity. All designs and mock-ups were made independently by Matisse.
Connect with Matisse via Instagram or check out her portfolio. Learn about how to submit your own Wavemaker Story here.
