A new space driven by stories. On Friday The National Motor Museum opened its doors its latest gallery which brings together iconic vehicles, untold histories, and hands-on experiences that invite visitors to explore motoring heritage in a fresh and engaging way. Designed to appeal to all ages, the exhibition blends striking visuals with interactive elements to create a more immersive journey through time. Behind the scenes, Aivaf has been proud to contribute to the development of interactive exhibits that help bring these stories to life. From concept through to build, our team has worked to ensure each element is intuitive, engaging, and accessible to a wide audience. You can see all this effort in our current interactives with the exhibition: • Our Smell of the city interactive which guides users through the ages of transportation via the use of smells. • The Juke box is a perfect look back into the world of radio, Users can listen to the music from the last 70 Years all the way back to the 1950s. • Cars on TV, Take a glimpse back through time and take a moment watching classic TV ad's on our supersized vintage TV It’s always rewarding to see a new gallery open its doors, especially one that celebrates innovation, design, and cultural heritage in such a dynamic way. You can find out more about this new exhibition on the national motor museum website linked below. .uk/news/driven-britain-s-motoring-story-opened-at-the-national-motor-museum/

Today is International Women's Day — a moment to recognise the women who help shape the museum and exhibition sector. From early concept design and storytelling to engineering, fabrication and installation, women play a vital role in creating the experiences that bring cultural spaces to life. Across the sector, women contribute at every stage of a project: Designing engaging visitor experiences Solving complex engineering and fabrication challenges Managing projects from concept through installation Helping museums tell powerful stories Their creativity, expertise and leadership continue to shape the future of cultural spaces. We’re proud to celebrate the women across our team and throughout the wider museum and exhibition industry. Their work spans design, making, project delivery and visitor experience — bringing creativity, technical skill and thoughtful problem-solving to every stage of a project. Today is a chance to recognise those contributions, reflect on the progress being made across the sector, and continue supporting opportunities for women in design, engineering and fabrication. #aivaf #internationalwomensday #museums

🎨 Scenic Series – Post 9 of 10 Nest & Acorn Play Elements These pieces were designed to be tactile, robust, and inviting — scaled specifically for younger visitors within a larger exhibition environment. Build process: Acorn carved entirely by hand from a rough structure built using yellow pine planks Shaped with a mix of chainsaws, grinders, rasps, and sanders to achieve the final form Nest formed around an internal armature to establish the overall shape Individual wooden slats stained in a range of tones, then woven together to create an organic, nest-like appearance The open structure creates safe, engaging spaces where small children can explore and play, without feeling separate from the main exhibition. One more scenic post to come. #aivaf #scenicfabrication #playfullearning

🎨 Scenic Series – Post 8 of 10 Hoverfly Model This build was driven by material choice as much as form. The brief was clear: use real wood to complement a wider theme of natural substrates and materials. Build process: Constructed from a variety of woods, selected to suit both form and finish Modelled on the pine hoverfly, native to the Scottish Highlands and rarely seen Designed with conservation context in mind, reflecting a protected and vulnerable species Scenic painted to unify the different wood types Fully sealed to protect the model from the exposed Highland environment A sculptural piece where craft, material honesty, and environmental context all mattered. Two more scenic posts to come. #aivaf #scenicfabrication #museumdesign

🎨 Scenic Series – Post 7 of 10 Magna – Water Cycle Giant Model Our biggest miniature to date. An imagined Peak District landscape built at scale, designed to house water features, electronics, and hands-on interaction. Build process: Polystyrene carved base formed from three 2m x 3.3m sections, with integrated electronics and water systems Resin hard-coated to create a surface strong enough to walk on during construction Hand-sculpted plaster rockwork and textures added to define scale and realism Scenic painted using multiple techniques to build up natural colour variation Enhanced with diorama materials to bring the landscape to life Installation: Transported to site by lorry and assembled into a single seamless landscape River beds fibreglassed to create a fully waterproof barrier Final detailing added, including electronics, miniature people, and trees A complex scenic build where structure, finish, logistics, and interaction all had to align. More from the scenic team soon. #aivaf #scenicfabrication #immersivelearning

🧪🚀 Horrible Science Lands in Manchester! 🚀🧪 We’re excited to share our contribution to the brilliant Horrible Science exhibition in Manchester — a show packed with hands-on experiments, big questions, and plenty of messy fun. Aivaf designed and built five bespoke interactives to bring the science to life, including: 🔴 A Miniature Mars Rover — navigate the terrain and explore the red planet 🎮 A 2-Player Mission Control Game — teamwork, timing and communication are key to success 🚀 A Rocket Launcher — test your aim and power as you blast off …and two additional interactives designed to challenge, engage and spark curiosity Projects like this are exactly why we love what we do — taking bold concepts and engineering them into robust, high-energy experiences that can withstand thousands of curious hands. If you’re in Manchester, it’s well worth a visit. #aivaf #HorribleScience #InteractiveExhibits #MuseumDesign #STEM #ExhibitionDesign

🎨 Scenic Series – Post 6 of 10 Scenic Finishes & Surface Treatments This image is a snapshot of the sample finishes we keep hanging in our boardroom — a quick way to show the range of surfaces our scenic team can recreate, refine, or completely invent. Finish samples include: Rock faces and earth textures Brickwork and concrete Wood grain and metal Greek façades and stone sculpture Bones, rust, and aged surfaces We work from real-world references, design visuals, or pure concept — whether that’s historically accurate, contemporary, or full fantasy. The goal is always the same: finishes that sit perfectly within the wider design and hold up in public environments. If you can reference it, we can build it. #aivaf #scenicfinishes #scenicfabrication

🎨 Scenic Series – Post 5 of 10 Magna Science Adventure Centre – Earth Gallery | Volcano Environment Created for the Earth Gallery at Magna, this build focused on full immersion, turning the space into a dramatic volcanic landscape that supports both play and learning. Build process: Large-scale volcano landscape and skyline painted by hand directly onto the walls Rock features cast and sculpted with a hard-coat finish, then scenically painted to match the wall artwork Stepping-stone game integrated to emulate the floor is lava Gobos and lighting used to unify the space and tie all elements together A room-scale scenic project where artwork, fabrication, interaction, and lighting all had to work as one. More from the scenic series soon. #aivaf #aivaf #scenicfabrication

🎨 Scenic Series – Post 4 of 10 Young-hee (Squid Game) Replica Built for Netflix’s Squid Game: The Experience this piece needed to be instantly recognisable, structurally sound, and finished to a broadcast-ready standard. Build process: Head core carved from polystyrene to establish the base form Coated in a durable water-based hard coat, with mounting points fibreglassed into the structure Sculpted and refined to create facial features and surface detail Base box constructed from MDF Finished with layered paper coatings and multiple paint passes to achieve an aged, weathered look A good example of how scenic fabrication scales from museums into large-format, real-world productions. More from the series soon. #aivaf #scenicfabrication #themedenvironments

Today is International Women & Girls in Science Day. Jo is on site at Manchester Science and Industry Museum installing part of a new exhibit — turning drawings and ideas into something physical, robust and ready for the public. This is what science and engineering look like in our world: practical problem-solving precision under pressure making complex systems feel effortless to the visitor delivering properly, not just talking about it Jo brings technical skill, attention to detail and a calm head on site — exactly what good installs demand. Representation matters. But so does competence. Jo delivers both. #InternationalWomenInScienceDay #WomenInSTEM #aivaf

🎨 Scenic Series – Post 3 of 10 Inis Cealtra – Landscape Model This model was all about storytelling through terrain. Every contour, surface, and texture was designed to show how the landscape has evolved over time — not just how it looks today. Build process: Base constructed from MDF and polystyrene for stability and form Coated in a water-based acrylic resin for durability Sculpted land masses including fields, ditches, and mounds to reflect historic land changes Finished with faux grasses and diorama materials to create realistic riverbanks and water surfaces Figures and buildings 3D printed, then scenic painted and textured to integrate seamlessly into the model A detailed piece where accuracy, material choice, and finish all had to work together. More from the scenic department soon. hashtag#aivaf hashtag#scenicfabrication hashtag#museummodels

🎨 Scenic Series – Post 2 of 10 Aivaf Stone Sign This piece is a good example of how our scenic department builds large, durable features that look solid and permanent, while keeping weight and structure under control. Build process: Base form created from laminated large-format polystyrene sheets Carved and shaped to define the overall structure and letter forms Wrapped in aluminium foil and coated with a fibreglass layer for strength Finished with a concrete render to give mass and toughness Scenic painted to achieve a realistic stone finish The result is a lightweight structure with the visual weight of carved stone — built to last in a public-facing environment. More scenic builds coming next. #aivaf #scenicfabrication #scenicdesign