STORE SUMMER SCHOOL - FARM TO FURNITURE

Name: STORE SUMMER SCHOOL - FARM TO FURNITURE
Start: 2025-08-26T10:00:00+01:00
End: 2025-08-29T16:00:00+01:00
Location: The Wildlife Trust Countryside Centre, Chapel Road, PE26 2RS

Schedule

Tue, 26 Aug, 2025 at 10:00 am to Fri, 29 Aug, 2025 at 04:00 pm

UTC+01:00

Location

The Wildlife Trust Countryside Centre, Chapel Road, PE26 2RS | Huntingdon, EN

A brand new free summer school in bio-based material and furniture design. For state-school students age 14-18.
We're excited to be hosting a brand new free summer school in furniture design with London-based art school Store! Designer and material scientist, Georgemma Hunt, and designer-builders, Flimsy, will join the students to experiment with materials made from wetland plants, and to design and prototype functional, playful furniture.
“Deep in the Cambridgeshire fens, where wild wetlands once supported rich biodiversity and stored carbon, the land has now been altered into a dry arable farm-scape. Draining the Fens causes the decomposition of 1-2cm of peat every year. This incredible carbon sink is being lost 10-20 times faster than it has historically been built up.
Paludiculture (farming on wetter peaty soils) promises new hope. It balances the demands of modern agriculture with the need to reduce carbon emissions. Researchers are investigating several wetland crops that can be farmed on wet peat soils and used in novel applications across industries including textiles, construction and design."
This is a free, four-day furniture making workshop at the Ramsey Heights Nature Reserve using natural materials. Over the course of four days, you will learn about how biobased materials are driving landscape regeneration across farms in the Fens. Join us on a journey from crop to chair (and table). Look forward to experimenting with bio-composite materials from wetland plants and prototyping functional, playful furniture pieces.
We will be using materials constructed from crops harvested at European paludiculture farms. These are plants that grow in wet peat, meaning the peat is protected from drying out, oxidising and contributing to climate change.
This event is for you if you are age 14-18, attend a state school, interested in design/furniture, material science/development and architecture.
To book, please email [email protected].