“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.” – John Cleese

The Little Gig Festival started as a bunch of friends in the industry coming together once a year. Today it is a 24-hour showcase of musicians, DJ’s, chefs, winemakers, artists, designers, speakers and performers situated between the springboks and woods at the Wiesenhof Adventure Park. Your ticket includes accommodation (basic camping, safari glamping tents or pods, etc.), music, food and drinks, as well as all items “sold” at the free shop.

There are not necessarily headline acts, the focus is rather on a diverse collection of relevant musicians and DJ’s moving you within the environment that the various designers and stylists have created for you. To a certain extent, the heart of this festival reminded us of thatching: it will never be a mainstream material, but the ambience and emotion evoked when walking into a thatched building, is art.

It was therefore a honour to work with Debra Parkington and her team at Studio Parkington in the creating of the gin bar area. Debra established Studio Parkington in 2009, after returning from abroad. Her brand focuses on the collaboration of multi-disciplined creatives and commissioning work with artisans to create bespoke elements that support each individual project’s aesthetics and vision. Her values and principles resonated with the JNA Thatchers team from day one.

Our brief was to create magical moving structures, playing with the relationship between natural elements and geometric shapes… and so our so-called “legs” were born. A sample was constructed in our workshop and used as a point of reference for the construction of the 9 structures on the day of set up.

The end result was breathtaking: the legs seemed to have a life of its own and Studio Parkington’s use of gels and lighting was magnificent.

One might find our choice to get involved in a project as such, to be odd, but at JNA Thatchers we like to constantly remind ourselves that thatching is above all else, rich in craftmanship and creativity and our role in The Little Gig Festival allowed us to celebrate exactly just that!