Design Festival Participation Report
Until Design Festa
Some members of ICU Atelier participated in Design Festa vol.58 in November 2023 as participants (people who just went to see it without exhibiting). At that time, we were overwhelmed by the extremely high quality of the creators' works. However, there was a wide variety of exhibitors, and some were exhibitors who were setting up shop on a school or club basis. Looking at these exhibitors, we sometimes thought, "Maybe we can do it too, since we have had success exhibiting at the ICU Festival..." Then, the idea of setting up a shop at Design Festa emerged among the club members.
However, exhibiting at Design Festa requires a high exhibition fee. Just exhibiting in a 90*180 space for two days costs 24,000 yen, which is a lot of money for students whose wallets are empty all year round. Of course, the cost is split between a large group of people .
- Having started off like this, was Design Festa actually a success?
The process leading up to Design Festa is summarised in the timetable below.
Design Festa Timetable
November, 2023
Apply for the lottery for Design Festa vol. 59.
ICU Atelier is a bright space, a small size booth (90*180), and we applied for two days. The price was 24,000 yen (including two tickets (1,500 yen each for two days)). we also purchased an additional ticket for two days for 1,500 yen.
December 1st, 2023
Design Festa Lottery Results
We were selected to participate to make exhibition there. I later asked other artists and found out that quite a few of them had been rejected. I was really lucky.
March, 2024
Applying for supplies to be used at Design Festa.
This time we rented a conference table (T-236, 150*45*70) and one folding chair. The total cost was 4,290 yen. Every year, there is a debate among artists about whether or not to rent a backboard, but we didn't because it was too expensive. Looking back now, I'm glad we didn't rent one.
April, 2024
I received a letter from the Design Festa management company containing tickets and pamphlets. This gave me a real sense of what it's like to be participating in Design Festa.
The business cards were also completed around this time.
I also announced on Instagram that I would be participating in Design Festa. I'm grateful to everyone who helped out despite being busy with the welcome party.
May, 2024
The final sprint towards Design Festa.
They made efforts to promote the event by posting on Instagram "How many days until Design Festa" and by putting up an introduction to ICU Atelier's booth on the Design Festa homepage.
By this time the number of participants had been confirmed, so we hurriedly purchased additional tickets.
The final number of participants was seven. They were busy buying exhibit equipment and creating works and exhibits.
May, 2024
The final sprint towards Design Festa.
They made efforts to promote the event by posting on Instagram "How many days until Design Festa" and by putting up an introduction to ICU Atelier's booth on the Design Festa homepage.
By this time the number of participants had been confirmed, so we hurriedly purchased additional tickets.
The final number of participants was seven. They were very busy buying exhibit equipment and creating works and exhibits .