Kent design studio continues to make breath-taking outdoor experiences

Kent design studio Lucid Creates (@lucidcreates__), renowned for creating groundbreaking stages, returned to the festival scene this summer with a number of amazing structures and art installations.

Lucid tripled the size of their open air venue & AV show, ‘TOGETHER’ for its second visit to Leeds Festival.

First launched in 2021 the large-scale outdoor art installation has transformed the festival’s late night dance area, LS23.

Last year Lucid’s giant, touring AV installation ‘TOGETHER’ landed in LS23 - creating a 360° experience which saw huge crowds packed together raving underneath the rings until the early hours, deep within the forest.

Now in the latest phase of its evolution, the installation has been expanded by Lucid to compliment the natural landscape of the wooded valley in Bramham Estate.

The three giant, seemingly floating rings are the foundation for spectacular live visuals which travel up, down and around the arena. Now all 20,000 ravers who head down to the valley after dark were encompassed by the extraordinary light show as soon as they enter the woods.

Lucid, which is the result of the creative partnership between Chris Carr and Helen Swan, also headed to Creamfields 2022 festival in Cheshire on August Bank Holiday taking open air venue ‘RUNWAY’.

Lucid Creates’ challenge was to create a mind-blowing structure, show and 360 immersive experience for the festival’s 25-year anniversary. The all-new venue is an imposing large-scale industrial truss structure dominated by a 60 metre long video screen which has been engineered to appear to be suspended in space over the heads of the 20,000 plus capacity audience.

Not only did Lucid design, engineer & make every inch of the 2,000sqm structure, they also created the full visual lighting and video experience which surrounds the crowd.

The visual spectacular explored human connection on both micro and macro levels, playing with the audience’s perception of space through dynamic synchronisation of geometric lines, cellular growth, synapse movement & sonic visualisation.

‘RUNWAY’ received rave reviews from DJs and festival goers alike and is set to be one of the biggest production developments in the UK festival scene.

“Bringing RUNWAY to Creamfields North was about creating a statement stage in the only field without one. I think it's fair to say that with RUNWAY, Lucid made that statement. We're always looking to deliver unforgettable moments for our fans and we're not done yet…”, said Andy Owen, Head of Marketing & Creative, Cream Group Ltd.

Based in a studio on the outskirts of Sittingbourne, Lucid has build stages and structures for the likes of Glastonbury, Parklife Festival, Spectra Light Festival, River of Light, Winterfest Wembley, Pacha Ibiza, Chibuku x Culture Liverpool Celebration, City of Culture 2025, Leeds Festival, Soho House, Boomtown Festival, British Summer Time 2022 and many more.

In their workshop in rural Kent, they work with a diverse range of creators, materials and tech to design and build installations for spaces from Glastonbury to Ibiza and everywhere in between.

Sustainability is at the core of their designs, meaning that Lucid Creates doesn’t build disposable, single-use structures.