Innovation Story: Rusty Design – sustainable innovation in the media industry

Rusty Design, founded by two Welsh brothers (Bleddyn and Morgan Williams), is an innovative engineering company. Based in South Wales, they offer prototyping and manufacturing for small businesses and creatives. They also build models and test ideas which focus on reducing cost, time and carbon footprint. 

Using the team’s expertise in cutting-edge technologies – like large-scale rapid 3D printing and composite fibre glassing – they have turned the traditional industry model upside down so smaller businesses can test ideas during development at lower risk. 

Rusty started with a simple goal: to bring creativity and engineering together in a practical way. Since then, they’ve built a reputation for combining technical expertise with innovative problem-solving – earning recognition across both the creative and manufacturing sectors. 

The Rusty Design × Media Cymru Story so far… 

Rusty Design teamed up with Media Cymru to transform how props are manufactured.

In this video, Rusty share their extraordinary research and development (R&D) journey, having received support from Media Cymru’s Seed, Development and Scale-Up Fund.

We also talked to Bleddyn Williams, a director at Rusty Design. He told us more about their journey into making physical and virtual props for the media sector…

Tell us about Rusty Design.  

Rusty Design was established in 2017 by my brother (Morgan Williams) after finishing his sports engineering masters. At first, Rusty was a consultancy. Now we’ve branched into various industries making our own products. The media sector is one of our main focuses.

We build our own machinery, including the printing path software. With these machines, we make all kinds of products. In our large-scale rapid 3D printing, we often make one-of-a-kind items which lends itself to the arts, because often companies require something unique. 

Tell us about your team. 

Tom Murray and Danny Askew are engineers and integral to the Rusty team. They played a huge part in our Media Cymru Seed and Development Fund project. Tom designed and created our life-sized model of a Formula 1 car. The F1 car replica was a final prop prototype, chosen to showcase the scale at which we can produce and test our process.   

Morgan, founder of Rusty Design, created props for a Welsh children’s TV show called Deian a Loli (featured on BBC iplayer and S4C Clic). In the episode, the characters magically shrink and play with table footballers. We 3D scanned the tiny table footballers and modified them, making scaled up versions for ease of filming for Cwmni Da (the production company). This work was developed with Media Cymru funding and it was our first TV credit – which was cool.   

Another team member is Kristian Movahed, who has over 15 years of experience creating props and art installations for major productions like Doctor Who. He’s exceptionally skilled – not just in making high-quality props, but also in working with materials and finishes to meet demanding creative briefs. Kristian was curious about applying our composite material, originally developed for surfboards, to the arts sector. That idea helped steer us towards the media industry. He really opened the door for us. When the first Media Cymru fund was announced, we already knew Cardiff is the UK’s third largest media hub – so we’ve always been aware of the need for innovation in the sector. 

Tell us about your Media Cymru projects.  

We were awarded the Media Cymru Seed, Development and Scale Up Fund. 

Seed: Phase One 

At first, we wanted to learn what people really needed so we did lots of market research the team PDR, experts in User Centred Design. User Centred Design is a design process which focusses on users and their needs throughout the lifecycle of a project. We made questionnaires and carried out expert interviews. This demonstrated a need for our services. It really helped us get the second grant.  

Development: Phase Two 

Next, we looked at how TV and film is made in Wales. One of the biggest problems is waste. 

“Waste is produced very quickly at a high volume because huge sets are created and there is limited time and resource to dispose of them consciously and in the correct waste streams. In 2022, for example, according to albert footprint data, over 1,000 tonnes of wood were used in Welsh productions and less than 25% of this was recycled” (Screen New Deal Transformation Plan for Wales).

We figured that, mathematically, the simplest way to reduce waste on set is to use less material to begin with – it’s the most direct way to make an impact. 

Scale-Up: Phase Three

Now we’re focusing on using eco-friendly alternatives to traditional materials, such as expanded polystyrene, by using biodegradable PLA-based materials and cutting-edge 3D printing technology. Through advanced recycling systems, AI integration and a circular production process, we aim to significantly reduce waste and carbon emissions while meeting the growing demand for sustainable practices in the media industry.

How do you make a physicalised virtual prop? 

Traditionally, props like columns or walls are carved out of large foam blocks, which creates a lot of waste. We take a different approach – using additive manufacturing to build only what’s needed. We can hollow out internal structures, drastically reducing material use without compromising strength. For example, the core of a column prop we made used over 80% less material by volume than its polystyrene equivalent. 

This process starts with a 3D model, meaning we also have a digital version alongside the physical prop. It’s a more efficient, flexible way to produce physicalised virtual props – bridging digital design and real-world fabrication. 

Using sustainable materials that are better for the planet… 

We use a material called PLA (Polylactic Acid), a bio-based alternative to polystyrene that can have a lower environmental impact, depending on how it’s sourced and processed. During our R&D, we carried out an internal life cycle analysis – a method for assessing the environmental impact of a material or process across its full lifespan. This helped us better understand where PLA performs well and where improvements are still needed. 

PLA might also offer safety benefits in fire scenarios compared to traditional foams. While we haven’t done formal testing to verify this, some evidence suggests our material could be less flammable than polystyrene. This was an unexpected insight that came towards the end of our Development project, and it highlighted the value of R&D – helping us identify areas worth exploring further. 

With the rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI tools like ChatGPT, prototyping and development can happen incredibly quickly. Wales is well-placed to harness this, but much of the existing potential remains underused. 

R&D is how we keep Wales punching above its weight. It’s about future-proofing. When the grant funding dries up or sales slow, it’s your R&D that keeps the business viable and resilient.  

Do you have advice for others embarking on an R&D journey?

• Collaborate! It is a supportive environment, collaborate as much as possible. Don’t be afraid of sharing what you’re doing.  
• Go to events. One of our ideas came from an event we went to before Media Cymru seed funding. We went to a virtual production event which gave us an idea and inspiration to make our F1 car replica. Go to these kinds of events, because often, you’ll meet people who are like minded and want to help.  

What are your hopes for the Welsh media sector in the next decade?  

My hope is that lots of small creative companies are founded and drive innovation in the sector. Sometimes, if companies get too big, they move slowly and don’t take many risks. We already have big names like the BBC and S4C, which is great – but we also need smaller companies and creative groups to step up and take ownership of innovation in the sector.

I watched a show called GoldenEra about the creation of GoldenEye for the N64, developed by a small team of recent university graduates working out of a farmhouse near Birmingham. Despite their size, the team was incredibly ambitious, and what they produced was remarkable. It really shows how powerful and innovative small teams can be. 

There’s loads of opportunity to innovate across the UK, but not enough people are paying attention. I just want more people to notice and back the great stuff that’s happening all the time.