WILDERNESS
Conceptual Brand Identity through textile design for McLaren.
What does a performance car brand feel like in your hands, not on screen, but stitched, printed, and embossed?
WILDERNESS is a speculative concept for McLaren, designed to explore that question through leather, landscape, and story-rich material identity. The concept is based around the launch of the McLAREN Artura hybrid supercar, with a focus on sustainability, luxury and adventure.
The Concept
We imagined a McLaren that doesn’t race through cities, but moves through the Scottish Highlands, open roads, rough weather, timeless terrain.
That vision split into two directions:
Wild Mountain Tame and Highland Rebel; two contrasting takes on how performance and identity can be expressed through material.
Direction 1: Wild Mountain Tame
This concept pulls from the rugged precision of Ordnance Survey maps, Highland contours, and natural materials.
Colour palette: Forest green, bracken brown, charcoal grey, and deep burgundy
Materials: Embossed and embroidered leather
Design moves: Stitch lines and embossed leather echoing map coordinates; textures that suggest topography; leather as terrain
This is about elevation and detail, high craftsmanship for a brand that builds machines to move through wildness with control.
Direction 2: Highland Rebel
Where Wild Mountain Tame was controlled and elemental, Highland Rebel is bold and defiant.
We used the McLaren tartan as a launchpad and pushed into colour: navy, signal red, racing yellow, and green.
Technique: quilted leather with bold accent colours
Intent: Punk meets precision
Inspiration: Scottish rebellion, brand velocity, textile heritage
It’s fast, unapologetic, and rooted in place.
Beyond the Car
The materials designed in WILDERNESS aren’t limited to seats or interiors.
They hint at wider brand extensions; bags, watch rolls, document wallets, where McLaren’s identity can meet in small, high-impact formats.
We also imagined partnerships: think Bennet Winch × McLaren × Bridge of Weir leather. Storytelling in product form.
Why This Project Exists
This wasn’t a commissioned project. It was built to show how we think.
WILDERNESS was created to showcase that textile and product design can go deeper than decoration.
It’s about how we embed brand into things people keep, not just things they consume.
If you’re a heritage brand looking to evolve your story, we would love to help you build something that feels this clear, this grounded, and this real.