External Reference’s sustainable catwalk is made of beer crates

This design by External Reference was realized on the occasion of the ModaFad fashion show in Barcelona, an event where young fashion designers who graduated from Spanish schools, selected by a multidisciplinary jury panel, have the possibility to present their creations to fashion firms, critics, and designers. Since the brief required building a catwalk structure as well as seating for the audience with a restricted budget, the External Reference team was forced to conceive a creative and sustainable design. A brewery company provided the main construction material, lending 2,500 plastic beer crates in return for the brand’s visibility during the whole event.

While usually the seats at a fashion show are reserved according to the importance of the guest from the front to the outermost rows, the objective of External Reference was to address the event to a large number of people. Consequently, the catwalk was used as an uninterrupted sign which crosses the exhibition hall, going outside into the public square and eventually re-entering the hall from a different access.
The beer crates formed rows of seats at different height levels, on both sides of the catwalk.

Beer crates are modular and can be easily converted to seats due to their size and proportions. The use of glue, mortar, or specialized workers is not necessary: the crates were easily connected using plastic straps to form the various exhibition structures.
The crates used for the fashion show were subsequently disassembled and re-used to build the stalls for the Merkafad design market.
The next day all crates were carried on trucks so to be delivered to the clients, full of beer bottles.