The National Festival of Making is a yearly, free, family-friendly festival hosted in the town of Blackburn, UK. It presents a program combining art, manufacturing, making, education and communities.
Like many festivals, the National Festival of Making was looking for alternative ways to engage with its audience during the summers of 2020 and 2021. Social gathering restrictions, a result of the pandemic, meant that the regular programming of a large selection of events, could not take place.
For the small 2021 edition of the National Festival of Making, Architects of Air was invited to present one of their luminaria (an inflatable, walk-in sculpture) in a modified confirmation, compliant with current covid regulations. It was installed for four days at Blackburn’s Corporation Park and saw approximately 3000 visitors.
Studio Memo was invited to create a take-home experience for visitors to the luminarium. Something to extend the experience of visiting the inflatable sculpture in an engaging, educational and creative way. The invitation culminated in us working with our partner Levilab (www.levilab.org) and creating a book as part of a small DIY inflatable architecture workshop pack: Building with Air.
The Building with Air book.
The Building with Air book.
The luminarium by Architects of Air at Blackburn’s Corporation Park. (Picture by the National Festival of Making)
The interior of the luminarium by Architects of Air at Blackburn’s Corporation Park. (Picture by the National Festival of Making)
The books, along with workshop materials, were gifted by the Festival of Making to visitors to the luminarium. Books that were left over after the four-day festival, were used by the Festival of Making at later times up until the end of 2021.
Introduction pages, and description of the work of Studio Memo and Levilab.
Descriptions of the work by Architects of Air and the National Festival of Making.
The contents of the books consisted of three main parts where one would learn about the fundamentals of inflatable architecture and design. Through paper models and volumes, aspects of scale and three-dimensionality where explored. The second part focused on creating a desk-top size inflatable. The third part detailed the construction of a large, collaborative inflatable sculpture.
All contents was created by Studio Memo in collaboration with Levilab. Support and inspiration came from both the National Festival of Making and Architects of Air. The wonderful graphic design and print work was done by Source (www.sourcecreative.co.uk).
Pages relating to the first DIY inflatable architecture project.
Pages relating to the first DIY inflatable architecture project.
Pages relating to the second DIY inflatable architecture project.
Pages relating to the third DIY inflatable architecture project.
Project: Building with Air - Workshop Pack
Client: The National Festival of Making
Location: Blackburn, GBR
Type: Printed Publication
Quantity: Max. 7.500 printed copies
Status: Completed
Creative concept and contents: Studio Memo / Levilab.org
Design: Studio Memo / Source / Stephen Caton
Print: Source / Stephen Caton
Big thanks to: The National Festival of Making / Architects of Air / Deco Publique (Lauren Zawadzki & Emma Colbert) / Source (Stephen Caton) / Levilab.org (Sarah Schrijver & Bella Justice)