Indie Campers & Anti-Form

Many exciting stories were submitted to the competition "Creative Industries History 2017". Through these stories, creative professionals can create added value and turnover together with their clients from the business world. The design collective Anti-Form brings the feeling of freedom of a new generation of travellers to the vans of Indie Campers and gives the company a top position in the European start-up squad. Creativity knows no national borders.

Indie-Campers: An Austrian design travels around the world

Indie-Campers rents out camper vans with a lifestyle factor and has thus become a showcase start-up in Europe. The design collective Anti-Form from the beautiful Attersee was part of the team from the very beginning and ensured the unforgettable look of the vehicles.

A Portuguese and an Austrian buy a van

The rental bus start-up Indie Campers began in 2013 with the rental of three minibuses and is now one of the largest rental companies in Europe with 100 employees and an annual turnover of 2 million euros (2016). The almost 400 vehicles distributed in the most beautiful holiday regions of Europe offer a large number of extras such as WLAN, GPS, camping equipment, barbecues, leisure sports equipment and much more. The foundation of the company in the course of the Erasmus programme in Portugal is based on an intercultural friendship between the Portuguese Hugo Oliveira and the Austrian Stefan Köppl. The artwork of the camper vans also bears an Austrian signature, namely that of Michael Schumer and his Upper Austrian design collective Anti-Form.

© Lukas Hämmerle

An attitude to life as car wrapping

Anti-Form likes to experiment with analogue techniques and their digital translation. For the Austrian co-founder of Indie-Campers, who was already familiar with Michael Schumer's work, it was clear that this note belongs to Indie-Campers and commissioned Anti-Form in 2013 to design the exterior of the first three buses. Rather than the usual white caravans, the Indie Campers founders wanted the look of the cars to convey the travel feeling of a new holiday generation. In their search for hidden beaches, deep forests, far out in the often inaccessible nature, the Airbnb-generation is focused on the absolute feeling of freedom when travelling. But with discreet comfort including W-lan, of course. It is exactly this lifestyle that the eight Anti-Form-Designs on the hundreds of Indies-Campers bring to the streets of Europe.

© Indie Campers

Attersee goes international

Even though the Austrian co-founder has meanwhile left the rental company, the design still comes from St. Georgen am Attersee. And so it shows once again that the creative minds in this country can easily keep up internationally. No wonder, then, that many satisfied customers from home and abroad practically give themselves the door handle in the Anti-Form office. The Upper Austrians' skills can be seen at exhibitions that take place again and again and at the online presence www.anti-form.com take a picture.

White vans probably wouldn't have worked.

This history of the creative industries shows that creativity knows no national borders and, above all, that a meaningful design can bring the essence of a start-up idea to the streets and thus contribute intensively to its success. Or what would have happened if the campers had remained white?

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