Time flies when you’re having fun
And fun we have!
It has been a while since you have heard from us, so we have many new stories to share.
First of all we would like to introduce a few new projects we have been working on: ‘Vakwerk’, and our latest beauty: Fortuna. These have kept us busy the past two years, but the result is more than satisfying.
Furthermore we look back on a couple of the most interesting events we visited, and forward to the ones in 2019.
We are looking forward to the new season, and we can’t wait to be seeing all of you in and around our spiegeltents.
Our latest project is finally ready to be released. Co-operating with another Dutch tent builder we have come up with a system to take festival tents to the next level.
For years we have struggled with finding the right tents to combine with our spiegeltents. Personally we aren’t a big fan of all the white marquees surrounding our beautiful tents, and we had the feeling, neither are you. Therefore we decided to build a wooden arch structure with all the benefits these aluminium and pagoda structures offer..
The idea is simple, we can create anything out of 3×3 meter squares (a ‘vak’ in Dutch). Therefore we can create structures 6, 9, 12 and 15 meters wide, and as long as required. As an extra, we can move around the corner, which allows us to build T-. U-, en Z-shapes.
Sounds difficult? It is actually really easy, but feel free to let us explain. Just contact Ivar by info@vakwerktenten.nl for more information.
We are very happy with the way the system turned out, and are still busy improving it along the way. Of course we should have picked a more international name, but we are proud of our Dutch roots and like to give our foreign friends a pronunciation challenge.
Please have a look at our website.
The newest member of our family. The Fortuna spiegeltent embodies everything our company stands for. She is built without any concessions regarding quality and style, creating that unique early 19th century feel. The absolute greatest spiegeltent we have ever worked with.
It seems like everything is getter bigger. Festivals grow, events get larger, and people have more time to visit shows and theatre. Therefore we get more and more request for our larger spiegeltents. We feel that larger doesn’t necessarily means better, especially with spiegeltents. They were designed to create an intimate feel, with the audience being close to the performers.
With our Fortuna we have tried to create a large spiegeltent without losing that feeling, and I think we have succeeded. Of course this is mainly a matter of opinion, and therefore we hope you take a look whenever we are near.
When are we near? You could have seen her during the Adelaide Fringe, or take a look this summer during Edinburgh Fringe. We are very proud of her, and we hope you like her a much as we do, so please come and see!
As a spiegeltent builder, holidays are rare. We just don’t seem to find the time in between all the travelling, sightseeing, dining, and visiting new places. Our solution is simple, we treat our work as one big holiday and this means a bit of sunshine is more than welcome.
As most of our Dutch clients know, sunshine is hard to find in Northern Europe. As you travel south, this tends to improve quickly (so does the food). But for some reason, our European travels stopped at the southern border of France for the past few years.
We have incidentally travelled into Italy, but never crossed the Spanish border. A shame, since looking for sunshine is easy in Spain. Luckily we finally received a request asking us to come to Vitoria-Gasteiz, which we happily accepted.
Over 30 degrees, zero chance of rain, and all the tapas in the world. It felt like a dream.
Although I have to admit… in my dreams I don’t always build two spiegeltents in the burning sun. Nevertheless we are happy to be coming back this year.
Apparently they liked us, since Vitoria isn’t the only city we visit this year, Barcelona is added for the new season! We are more than excited, and perhaps even staying for a little bit longer, just to enjoy that Spanish sun. Viva Espana!
THE ‘OTHER DUTCH TENT BUILDER’
I mentioned him before, when I introduced Vakwerk, as the other Dutch tent builder. But this name doesn’t do him justice.
Since we have been working together closely over the past two years I might as well call him by name: Pelle. Owner of the Opera Festival tents, he owns a unique set of tents used by a variety of clients.
If you are in need of something special, have a look at his website: www.festival-tent-hire.co.uk
SPIEGELTENT VILLAGE
Mostly we build one spiegeltent per event. Sometimes even two. But some events truly like our tents. The record holder is Imaginales with 4 spiegeltents at one event, which we are thankful for.
It is amazing to walk around in our own spiegeltent village
EARLY BIRDS
Since we only own a fixed number of spiegeltents, we can run out of tents.
We have noticed bookings get made earlier, and we don’t like having to say no, so we would recommend to book early.
This allows us to shift around dates and tents, in an effort to help out as much as we can.
