The Contemporary Flag MakersWe rarely approach a festival to ask if they need help dressing their event. It feels a bit bold and brazen; I prefer having a decent website that shows what we do clearly, and engaging socials so people find us if they need us.
Anyway, that’s what I did with We Out Here Festival. Why? Well, lots of my friends have attended the festival and I counted half a dozen local mates who all said that it was such a beautiful site and an amazing festival (as well as being local to us in Somerset) but it was seriously lacking in decor. In fact several people said: “Klare, they need your flags!’. The festival moved sites a few years ago so there’s still the feeling of discovering what works for the land.
First, we discussed an exchange of tickets for flags. They were keen: yippee! Then coincidentally one of the main festival sponsors, Red Bull, requested branded flags for the backstage area, so it all felt like it was meant to be.
Decorating the various areas at WOH
When it came to decorating the different areas, we had creative free reign, which was a lot of fun. We chose Eastern Arena Flags in Warm Hues and purple for the main stage arena. Personally, these are my favourite colour collections because, whatever the weather, Warm Hues and purples always bring the vibes.
Next up was the Family Area. Phoenix Flags in the Festival Mix colourways and a 9-pole maypole with 80m oversized rainbow bunting. As it’s the kids’ area, the decor has to be robust and functional. The maypole created a space to ‘be/play/chill’ plus a bit of shade. The flags were placed in an arc to ‘hold’ the space.
For decking out the Fashion Market tent we used our famous Raggle Taggle bunting. The space didn’t need a huge amount of decor as the stall holders would be bringing their own design and colour. So Raggle held the space together by dressing around the edge, and centre pole to outer poles with swatches of our handmade bunting. This is made from the leftover pieces of recycled polyester satin and silk we use for our flags and bunting. So the perfect decor for a fashion market tent!
In the Craft Market Tent, we went full, bright summer vibes with swathes of silk fabric (we dye these colours) in flo orange, bright yellow, zingy turquoise, grass green and hot pink summer colours. We also used 5 of our groovy hula hoop ribbon chandeliers in matching colours. We were chuffed with the finished result: the tent began as a dull, off-white shade and was transformed into a joyful, vibrant space, connecting to the true spirit of the festival.
The Charity area was a little bit TBC on the day of the festival opening, as we needed to see what decor the charities would bring. A wing-it-and-see-what’s-needed approach (a highly technical term!) was taken, as the charities received bog standard gazebos which when left bare, looked incredibly sad. So we used 50m Oversized bunting and regular bunting between the scaffold and all areas that needed jazzing up.
All of these areas were pretty simple and a great exchange.
Love Dancin’ – We Out Here Festival
Then, we were asked to dress a larger venue called Love Dancin’. We were provided with measurements of the new tent (it had an increased capacity than previous years) and photos of what had previously been done in a smaller tent. We planned for huge drapes in Warm Hues swathed from the top horizontal truss and out to all corners creating a full-ceiling effect in gorgeous yellows, oranges and reds. Upon arriving and seeing the tent for the first time it was way bigger and more daunting than we imagined. We realised we had massively underestimated the amount of fabric it would take to dress the whole thing. Luckily, there was time to think it through, change the plan and start dressing the simpler venues first. Chris Miller (our legend chief rigger) drove off-site to our HQ and then back to the festival in the morning, so we gave him a big list of additional things, including dozens more rolls of fabric! Phew.
All went well. Great in fact. Its really good for me to get out of the office occasionally! It was a right laugh to work with the very talented Holly and Anna (more often than not these days studio manager and studio-based roles but both have lots of festival dressing experience).
So, as a result of us reaching out (something not normally within my comfort zone), We Out Here used our services, the festival had vibrant and impactful decor that enhanced the attendee experience. The organisers gave us brilliant feedback, were really grateful and a delight to work with.
Who knows, we may be asked back this year!?
