Sustainability Challenge 2023: VELUX Group and Roskilde Festival spotlight students' festival furniture made from recycled materials
Could future festival equipment be made from coffee bags, mushrooms or ropes?
Through the Sustainability Challenge, The VELUX Group, IDA and Roskilde Festival called on students to design festival furniture using only recyclable materials.
The Sustainability Challenge finale will take place in the Roskilde Festival Bazar Area at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 28, where a jury will pick the winner. The competition aims to demonstrate the potential of recyclable materials and what sustainability could look like at festivals in the future.
Future festival-goers need to think more sustainably, which is the concept behind the VELUX , IDA and Roskilde Festival Sustainability Challenge 2023. In this second annual challenge, students with backgrounds in design, construction and architecture were invited to create innovative furniture for Roskilde Festival using only recyclable materials.
For this year's Sustainability Challenge, the students’ were tasked with designing furniture for lounge areas that guests at Roskilde Festival can use during the festival. The big challenge this year was that students were only allowed to use recyclable materials. Therefore, in order to realise their ideas, the groups had to secure co-operations with recyclable material suppliers.
We have a fantastic younger generation which is already thinking about sustainability in many aspects of their life, and we want to pass the baton to them. We want to give our festival-goers and the next generation of designers, engineers and constructors the opportunity to inspire us and make a difference.
Sustainability Challenge background and finale details
Just like last year's Sustainability Challenge, the competing groups this year were selected over several months. They presented and further developed their projects in front of judges during a series of events and workshops. You can learn more about the process, and see many of the projects developed along the way here.
The process began with 30 groups of which 10 were selected to compete in the finale at Roskilde Festival 2023. These finalists’ solutions include everything from bean bag chairs made from coffee bags, to lounge furniture made from air mattresses and old chipboard furniture, to a hammock made from recyclable materials.
The 2023 Sustainability Challenge finale is held at Roskilde Festival on Wednesday, June 28 from 11:30-13.30. The winner will be selected by a jury of professionals from the design and architecture industries. The jury will evaluate the projects based on their functionality, design and potential.
The Circular Lab
The Sustainability Challenge is organised in collaboration with Roskilde Festival's Circular Lab, which is working towards developing circular solutions for Roskilde Festival. The Circular Lab offers young people a platform and creative community where new sustainable solutions for the festival can be tested.
IDA, VELUX and Roskilde Festival organised the Sustainability Challenge for the first time in 2022. In addition to receiving the 2022 Spot On: Activation Award in the Arts and Culture category, three of the best projects from last year are now part of the Circular Lab, where their solutions are exhibited and continuously developed.
We are really pleased to be part of the Sustainability Challenge again this year. This project fits perfectly with the Circular Lab’s visions. The projects from last year that we are still working with are clear proof of that. Our festival needs to be more sustainable, and it is important that we can collaborate with IDA, VELUX and a lot of talented young people to contribute to this.
For more than 80 years, the VELUX Group has created better living environments for people around the world; making the most of daylight and fresh air through the roof. Our product programme includes roof windows and modular skylights, decorative blinds, sun screening products and roller shutters, as well as installation and smart home solutions. These products help to ensure a healthy and sustainable indoor climate, for work and learning, for play and pleasure. We work globally – with sales and manufacturing operations in more than 37 countries and around 11,700 employees worldwide. The VELUX Group is owned by VKR Holding A/S, a limited company wholly owned by non-profit, charitable foundations (THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS) and family. In 2022, the VELUX Group had total revenue of EUR 2.99 billion, VKR Holding had total revenue of EUR 4.29 billion, and THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS donated EUR 181 million in charitable grants.
For more information about the VELUX Group, visit velux.com.