Design of a Luxury Tent Line

Abstract

This project is conducted on behalf of Esprite Nomade, based in Bali, Indonesia. Esprite Nomade is a design studio, designing luxury travel and lifestyle products for wealthy travelers and luxury hotels. The company wants to stabilize its position in the market, and become a more profitable company. Therefore a new luxury tent line should be designed, with tents to be used for events, like parties, picnics and meditation, and a tent to be used as a private guesthouse. With this tent line, Esprite Nomade should change from capacity function to product function, meaning that tent designs should be ready for sale. Esprite Nomade’s mission, to increase travelers’ appreciation of nature, combined with the current market segment of luxurious travel, makes the niche market of luxurious sustainable tourism suitable for the company. The tents will be designed to be used in the tropical rainclimate, which is a suitable climate zone for both luxury and eco travel. The aspects of sustainability, ‘people’, ‘planet’ and ‘profit’, are investigated, resulting in criteria that should be met by the tent line. In an explorative research the vision of travelers and general managers of luxury hotels on nature experience, luxury and environmental conservation is examined. From this research can be concluded that travelers’ awareness of the environment can be increased by positive nature experiences, information and participating in nature projects. Based on the previous information the most important design themes for the project are ‘Nature Experience’, ‘Luxury’, ‘Environmental Friendliness’, ‘Customization’ and ‘Easiness’. Criteria for the tent line are stated and a choice for using bamboo and cotton-based fabric is made. The final design is a result of explorative sketching and model-making. This new luxury tent line is presented on the basis of the most important design themes. The new luxury tent line can enhance the user’s experience of luxury and nature by, among other things, by providing a feeling of spaciousness and wide outlooks on nature.