Award-winning, sustainable exhibition stand from Imageco
Winner of the ‘Special Sustainable Prize’, at the recent international Antalis Interior Design Award, was Imageco’s exhibition stand for client Pie Factory. The stand, and the ethos behind it, provide an important template for the design and build of future sustainable exhibition stands.
The stand, which is made from 100% recyclable, closed-cell fibreboard, Xanita, and produced for Pie Factory’s client has already been reused three times and will eventually be recycled at the end of its life.
Pie Factory approached Leeds-based Imageco – specialist in wide-format printing and signage – after seeing ’Sustainable Street’, another award-winning exhibition stand they had produced for Antalis for the 2022 Visual Merchandising and Display Show. Imageco Managing Director, Nathan Swinson Bullough, explains: “Pie Factory came to us with a design brief for a ‘greenhouse’ that must be sustainable, recyclable and, ideally, reusable. Pie Factory are a B-Corp and 1% for the Planet member, so their ethos is very much aligned with our own, and we were delighted to be selected to work with them.”
Key to the success of the project was the selection of materials, as Nathan comments: “We achieve such incredible results using Xanita from Antalis that making the decision to use it for Pie Factory’s stand was easy.”
Imageco selected 16mm Xanita Print, which features digitally printable white kraft liners. Strong enough to create large scale exhibition stands, it can also be V-grooved to enable folding and strengthening where required.
Xanita is an engineered fibreboard manufactured with a part re-pulped post-consumer paper core and FSC® accredited liners. It is an environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional use of MDF, PVC and PUR foam boards typically found at exhibitions and is suitable for a wide range of applications, including internal sign and 3D structural applications.
Exhibition stands made from Xanita are also light in weight and can be flat packed for transportation to and from events, saving on space and cost, and reducing the possibility of damage – all of which help to minimise environmental impact.
Specification Consultant at Antalis, Claire White, comments: “We’re delighted that the innovative thinking of Nathan and the Imageco team has been rewarded by them winning the Special Sustainable Prize at the Antalis Interior Design Award. Their skills in working with Xanita are helping to break new ground in the creation of sustainable exhibition stands, and with the likes of Pie Factory recognising the benefits, I think we shall see stands such as this become the new standard.”