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Nest Fest
Nest Fest is a boutique music festival held in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, nestled amongst the scenic Black Barn Vineyards. From 2019 to 2022, Department of Arts was invited to lead the creative direction and deliver site-wide design interventions that complemented the festival’s laid-back, summery vibe. With a crowd of 2,000–4,000 attendees, the festival championed a warm, handmade aesthetic and daytime band-focused programming.
3D Design
Experience Design
Graphic Design
Spatial Design
Event Design
Experience
Challenge
One of the main challenges was the tight turnaround — Nest Fest occurred just one week after the massive Rhythm & Vines build, meaning limited prep time and tight logistics. As a smaller, more intimate festival, budget constraints also required strategic design thinking. The team had to focus on reusable, cost-effective materials while still delivering charm, character, and cohesive storytelling across the site.
Approach
Working closely with festival founder Harry and building upon Jack Hawks’ distinctive illustration style, the team used CNC-cut timber, homemade LED lighting, and hand-painted elements to create a distinctive aesthetic. The goal was to craft a tactile, inviting atmosphere using flat-packable structures, stretched fabrics, and overhead wireframes to achieve maximum visual impact with minimal material footprint. The approach favoured softness, simplicity, and adaptability.
A variety of inviting party spaces
Output
Over the years, we designed and delivered a variety of key installations including multiple custom stages, a handcrafted marketplace zone, overhead disco plate canopies, large-format NEST FEST lettering that transitioned between stage and entrance use, modular stage backdrops, immersive entry archways, and “Jelly Lane” — a wooded area transformed with a glowing jellyfish canopy. Many of these assets were reused and reconfigured across different years, allowing the visual identity to evolve with the festival while maintaining a consistent handmade feel.
The result was a distinctly handmade, joyful atmosphere that perfectly captured Nest Fest’s identity. The flexible design system enabled key installations to live beyond their first use, evolving with the festival. The visual tone became a hallmark of the event, contributing to its cult-like appeal. Special thanks to Harry and the full DOA team for bringing this creative vision to life across multiple years.
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