Back the Brits

Back the Brits is a triptych depicting Vodafone tennis ambassadors Emma Raducanu (centre), Alfie Hewett (left) and Jack Draper (right).

Created by artist and designer Richard Moss, the piece utilises upcycled tournament tennis ball offcuts to share three life-size figures – offering an icon of sustainability to celebrate icons of British tennis.

The champion British tennis players have teamed up with Vodafone to inspire the next generation of tennis players and promote Play Your Way to Wimbledon, the UK’s largest individual mass participation tennis competition.

Back the Brits is the latest in a series of projects that aims to reimagine the potential of what would normally be considered waste. With reuse in mind, tennis ball offcuts emerged as the ideal medium for depicting the country’s best tennis players.

Project details

Client:
Vodafone

Location:
London

Categories:
Concept, Design, Fabrication

Timeline:
2022

The composition uses two modules of tennis ball offcut to create a pseudo-pixel art effect. The larger offcuts define the space, while the smaller, high-density offcuts define the silhouettes and branding elements. To capture both dynamism and triumph, the piece portrays Hewett and Draper in motion, flanking Raducanu in a moment of victory.

Each ball was cut on the studio’s industrial press in Northampton, England, which was designed specifically for processing used tennis balls. The offcuts were then placed in sequence into machined and hand-finished panels. Leveraging the inherent properties of the tennis ball felt and rubber, the offcuts were affixed with no glue required.

The minimalist colour palette was achieved with organic fabric dye, contrasting natural green tones against Wimbledon and Vodafone branding references.

The final image utilises 3677 tennis ball offcuts to hero both sustainability and British athletic accomplishment.