Festival Season is here, but what about the tent?? #EP2016

With the festival season at the end of its  run, have you given a thought to your tent? In Glastonbury it was great to see some innovation from the design sector in particular graduate design.

Approx 5000 abandoned tents, 6000 sleeping bags, 3000 airbeds and 1000 rolled mats are left behind in the UK festival alone. The Guardian writes: Amanda Campbell, a recent University College London graduate in architectural studies, thought up the compostable tent for her final year design project. During the research stage, she realised that a bio-based material such as corn starch bioplastic could biodegrade within 120 days when composted. On its own the bioplastic material couldn’t endure wear and tear, but by putting natural fibres from bamboo or silk between sheets of the bioplastic the tent could be made durable and waterproof. The problem is that cheap tents made from cheap materials – costing as little as £15 at some supermarkets – are easy to come by, says Amanda Campbell, founder of what she claims is the world’s first compostable tent, Comp-a-Tent. 

Full article from the Guardian here.

Another way to consider your tent is to re-use it! Last years Electric Picnic @GlobalGreenatEP mobilised the entire Picnic to donate all their festival shelters to the the refugee crisis using the hashtag #TentsForCalais and ended up with over 400 tents which were driven straight to Calais - an initiative from the very wonderful Co. Clare woman & community activist @RoisinGarvey & this year she is planning on doing the same. Follow the hashtag. And there are drop off points in every campsite. 

So if you are tenting this 'summer' at a festival please think of how you will dispose of your tent. It is great if you bring it home and re-use it next year. But if not see if you can donate to a charity while we wait for the Comp-a-tent in 2018!

Good Morning #EP2015 - how're the heads today? We're accepting 4 men tents & bigger from 11am #picnictocalais pic.twitter.com/McIR0XiesA

— GlobalGreen@EP (@GlobalGreenatEp) September 7, 2015

Check out some of the previous work Danielle Townsend Design created for the Picnic....

Electric Picnic 2014

Electric Picnic 2015

Got a design job you think we could help with?

Why not call (+353 86 3138816) or email today and start the conversation.

Graduate Exhibition @DublinDesign 2016

In the words of Frankie Valli - Oh what a night! and in fact what a year for the most recent batch of graduates from Dublin Institute of Design. These students - mostly part time - have worked tirelessly for the last few years to deliver what I can honestly say is one of the best graduate graphic design shows in Dublin (I know I'm not biased). 

The array of topics on display really show a commitment from these students to use design and their ability to enrich the fabric of society in some way. They have tackled themes like community engagement, our fair city and its hidden stories, censorship, loneliness, feminism, food waste & production, mental health & suicide to intergalactic currency! and have delivered their concepts through the lens of a social commentator trying to disrupt the status quo. The is traditional branding & typographic skills on show as standard however the level of awareness around the commerciality of these projects is high and many can go into full development mode with these projects. The group have shown an excellent awareness of and engagement with society which highlights the evolving nature of design education past the notion of only creating for consumption but towards design for social good. The exhibition is in its last few days and can still be seen at Dublin Institute of Design, 45 Kildare Street 10-4pm. 

(Note: All branding for the Exhibition was completed by graduate Peter Mullen)