About Ruth
I lead product and creative strategy for ambitious, design-led brands, at the point where creative positioning meets commercial direction. Over twenty years I’ve built ranges and teams inside fast-growing businesses, from Made.com's growth to IPO, to MOO's new product function, built from scratch.
Today, that experience shows up as fractional leadership, advisory work and strategy projects across sectors.
Day to day, that means range architecture, product roadmaps, P&L thinking, and the organisational structures that turn strategy into delivery. As a passionate sustainability advocate, whole lifecycle thinking and sustainable design and build is standard practice. It's the only way it really works.
A sustainable Approach
A genuine passion for building sustainable practices in my work has included steering corporate strategy and commissioning formal Lifecycle Analyses as well as implementing best-practices for design and source. I am a Design Council Expert supporting their mission of Design for Planet. And I am a Trustee of a fund supporting organisations in the global south working at the intersection of climate change mitigation and social justice.
“Ruth is a passionate design leader with an ability to blend creative innovation with strong business acumen. During her time at MOO, she infused the company with a renewed sense of creativity and introduced forward-thinking ideas that enhanced the depth and diversity of our product offerings. Ruth also introduced new approaches to our brand, business strategy, and operational processes. Her passion for design and her strategic insights have left a lasting impact.”
In the press
I was named in Marketing Week’s top 50 CX professionals, and as one of Creative Pool’s top 100 influencers. I have won various awards as well as judging D&AD, Design Week and Creative Pool awards, alongside appearing as a speaker at international events, in the press and as Mary Portas’ guest on BBC Radio 4.
Commercial Delivery
From 2013 I led Made.com product design from punchy start-up to one of the world’s fastest growing design brands through to IPO, via three new collections a week, several new product categories and a crowdfunding platform for emerging design.
As VP Design at MOO I led all things design and creative for the business, spearheading the strategic diversification into a new market area by building and leading a New Products team, an agile process and a multi-year product strategy & creative direction, alongside delivering a brand strategy and identity refresh.
More recently, I've led UK market entry for an overseas e-comm retailer, as interim Managing Director including brand, product, commercial structure, and investor positioning built from a blank page; and I hold an ongoing fractional Executive Director role for a luxury hospitality product brand, building product organisation and strategy at SLT level.
Beyond the Studio
Alongside my work with ambitious product brands here at Ruth Wassermann Studio, I collaborate through two other platforms.
For focused strategy sprints and facilitated sessions, I founded HumanMade Futures — a partnership helping teams align around purpose, vision and direction at moments of change or growth.
For larger-scale creative, strategy and sustainability projects, I work with the global network Group of Humans — a collective of leading experts shaping meaningful futures across design, technology and culture.
As a Design Council Expert, I contributed to the Design for Planet Framework and am a certified trainer delivering keynotes and workshops on circular systems, sustainable design, and future-facing product strategy.
