Main Entry Image (click to enlarge)

Sustainability Statement

‘This design was made for a travel and tourism expo and the client was as on board with the sustainability angle as I like to be. So, it is a great entry for me to submit.

The arch was 5,5m (16 feet) in length and 3,3m (9,8 feet) in height and the stands were 50cm (1,6 feet) cubed. The arch was made up of smaller, rectangular metal stands that we can use again for events, in various shapes and forms, free standing structures, arches etc. The metal stands were held together with nuts and bolts, so no cable or zip ties used for stability – the stands were stabilized at the base with sandbags covered in jute fabric.

Inside the stands, we used long lengths of multiple strands of twisted paper covered wire/bind wire to create strong attachment points for the botanicals to fill the insides of the structure, as well as leaning out so that good dimension was possible. These were zig-zagged across the uprights of each structure. This was done on each structure before they were built into the large arch. And in some cases, the proteas were added to the structures before they were added onto the top of the stand.

The bottles and tubes were attached to these thick wires using more bind wire – these were all prepared ahead of time and were easily removed after the event, emptied and stored for future use again. All the bind wire was reclaimed after event, wound up and stored for future use – in my experience, bind wire can be used multiple times before the wire is too weak. And this is our local quality bind wire, which is not as good as the European equivalents.

All the flowers were selected to be indigenous to Southern Africa and sourced as close to the event as possible from local farms or foraged and included many species that can last the duration of the event (1 day to build and 3 days for the event) without a water source (full list provided elsewhere), such as:

• Aloe arborescens
• Strelitzia reginae, flowers and foliage
• Strelitzia nicolae foliage – fresh and dry
• Cycas revoluta – fresh

Those needing a water source had glass bottles or tubes (size depending on botanical, stem size and water needs). The tubes and bottles were checked daily and refilled as needed.

Some botanicals were purposefully dry or hung without tubes and allowed to dry out as it spoke to the theme of the event, which was wild botanicals of Southern Africa. And the sub theme of fynbos flower kingdom, and the drought/fires that release seeds for regeneration, as a metaphor for travel industry post covid.

After the event, it was easy to deconstruct the arch by unbolting each individual structure, bring it to the ground and remove all the stems from the bottles/tubes. All the dry botanicals were collected, packed and stored for use again in future, the aloes (large and small) were donated for planting in a garden, the proteas, cycas, restios were dried and will be used in future event work. And the rest were placed in my compost heap in my garden.

These larger structures (9 in total) are slightly bulky to transport, but I was able to do so with a vehicle like a mini-van and a small trailer. BUT this was a particularly large arch – for smaller event purposes, it will be easier to transport as less structures would be needed – with the boxes of botanicals that slot into the structures in transport. I have created a similar arch for a smaller event, using smaller structures (80cm x 80cm x 25cm) that are also table design stands and was able to construct the flowers inside each piece ahead of time, transport them to the venue and then just connect the stands on site and finish off the design.

Overall this a very low impact event with mostly reusable mechanics that also made the client happy with the sustainability considerations.’

Additional Entry Images (click to enlarge)

List of Botanicals & Supplies Used

Metal structures
Bind wire
Glass tubes and bottles
Sand bags with jute fabric covering
Bolts and nuts

Botanicals:
• Aloe arborescens
• Strelitzia reginae, flowers and foliage, fresh and dry
• Strelitzia nicolae foliage – fresh and dry
• Protea repens – dry
• Agapanthus praecox – dry
• Cycas revoluta – fresh
• Stoebe plumosa herba
• Erica gracilis
• Pteridium aquilinum
• Protea petroux (pityphylla x effusa)
• Protea repens
• Protea nerifolia
• Protea coronate
• Protea longifolia
• Protea cynaroides
• Leucadendron salignum
• Protea susara
• Restio elegia-persistens
• Aloiampelos ciliaris,