The Festival of Thrift: Teesside designers are the brains behind the new Festival of Thrift website
The Festival of Thrift has teamed up with a Tees Valley-based design agency to revamp and revitalise its website.
Brainbox Studios, located in Skelton in Redcar and Cleveland, has created a fresh new look for the website of the hugely popular event that is the UK’s national celebration of sustainability, attracting over 45,000 visitors last year.
Emma Tweddle and Vik Watson, the graphic design duo behind the business, have been working closely with the Festival marketing team to re-design and develop the new look website which has just gone live ahead of the Kirkleatham-based event that launches on 21 September and takes place on 22 and 23 September.
As big fans of the Festival of Thrift they were both delighted to have been commissioned after tendering for the project.
Emma commented: “We have visited the Festival of Thrift every year since it started and love the concept of the event so it is very exciting to be involved. It ticks everything we want to be involved with as a business with its focus on sustainability and the positivity it brings to the region.
“Our brief was to update the Festival’s website and make it more user friendly. Apart from re-visiting the overall look and feel, the biggest change we have made is making it responsive to all devices so that all content is set up for use with mobile phones and is downloadable including an interactive map of the site for the first time.”
Brainbox Studios is a business that is firmly rooted in the Tees Valley. Both Vik and Emma were born and brought-up in Redcar and Cleveland and they are both graduates of Cleveland College of Art and Design’s Graphic Design degree course.
Emma added: “We are both passionate about the area and didn’t want to head to London for work and leave behind this beautiful part of the world. I am also an avid surfer and Vik performs with a local band so life is too good here to move away.
“We decided instead to set up Brainbox Studios after we graduated in 2011. We are incredibly proud to have organically grown the business without any external funding to the point we are at today where we get most of our work from word of mouth recommendation.”
Stella Hall, Director of the Festival of Thrift, said: “It’s been a delight to work with such a talented design business and to be able to support a locally-grown Tees Valley-based business.
“The new look Festival of Thrift website is just what we wanted as we head to our sixth event and has wonderful new features that help us to really showcase the extensive programme we have planned for this year and the incredible range of artists, traders and partners involved. I hope it will encourage many more attenders to engage with us online and in person”.
Web: festivalofthrift.co.uk Twitter: @ThriftFest Facebook: @festivalofthrift Instagram: festivalofthrift
