Perennial credentials

Smart Display will once again inspire a new generation of budding gardeners with its ‘living wall’ stand design, created on behalf of machinery supplier Trime UK. The living plants were first incorporated into Trime UK’s stand at last year’s Executive Hire Show, drawing an overwhelmingly positive response from visitors and fellow exhibitors alike. In line with its own green credentials, the team at Trime UK was keen to see its foliage live on, and teamed up with a Cambridgeshire primary school seeking to heighten its pupils’ awareness of the environment, sustainability and the joy of gardening.

The collaboration was so successful that Trime UK will repeat the procedure again at this year’s event, and plans to carefully transport its plants to another school when the show closes its doors on the 15^th February.

“We are well-known within the hire industry for our sustainable, energy- and water-saving machinery,” says Trime UK’s marketing manager Emma Cohen, who spearheaded the project. “However, the show attracts new visitors and we wanted to draw their attention to our environmental credentials with a novel display of live, green plants, which covered a large part of our presentation. We received a lot of positive comments, so we believe we got our message across.”

Keen for the plants to live on after the two-day show, Emma went one step further and teamed up with Godmanchester School, an eco-school and community academy with a strong focus of ecological education. The wall was carefully relocated and re-planted in the foyer of the Cambridgeshire-based school, while excess plants have brought a touch of greenery to classrooms.

Image:(left to right) Mrs. Harman, Izzy, Eva, Alex & Noah from the Eco Council and Emma Cohen

“We can’t thank Trime UK enough for thinking of us and supporting us with this donation,” says Mrs Harman, the school’s eco-coordinator. “Our pupils are passionate about the environment, sustainability and gardening and, over the past year, our gardening club has worked hard to develop multiple areas in our outdoor environment. The living wall has meant that we can bring nature indoors and enjoy the benefits of greenery and growth in our foyer.”

Far from being a decorative addition to reception however, the living wall has become an interactive hub of education and nurture.

“Our pupils got straight to work with sustaining the living wall and taking responsibility for watering it,” continues Mrs Harman. “Our gardening club intends to research the different plants to ensure that we are giving them everything they need to survive and flourish. The wall has already been admired by our many school visitors and allows us to celebrate our passion for nature and the environment from the moment people enter our building.”

Inspired to see that last year’s creation is still in bloom, the pressure is on Smart’s team of designers to plant and create an equally hardy display of plants that will go on to flourish as well as their predecessor.

“Creating Trime UK’s living wall was one of my proudest stand designs to date,” says Sarah Addison, designer at Smart Display and the lead creator behind both last year’s stand and this year’s updated version. We had to be careful to choose the shrubs that were in season and would weather two days in an exhibition hall, before being transported to the school. We planted every last shrub ourselves and seeing it come to life on-site was a huge achievement, and one which we hope to repeat next week.”

Trime UK’s new stand featuring more living plants will be unveiled at the Executive Hire Show at the Coventry Building Society on the 14^th and 15^th February next week.

If you would like to see how Smart Display can bring your brand ideals to life with innovative design, get in touch today.