Principal Global Events' props went to Berlin and back, then on to nine UK charities
Taking props abroad for a show brings a return problem. A carnet lets goods travel temporarily without paying duty, on the condition that they come back. Once the material gets home, for most agencies the default answer is a storage unit, followed eventually by a skip.
Principal Global Events is an award winning events management agency with offices in London and Austin, Texas, delivering live, hybrid and virtual events across industries and continents. This year in Berlin, they were responsible for a technology client's attendance at the world's largest home and consumer tech event, IFA Berlin 2026. The client's presence at the show, which sees 240,000 visitors, required a fabulous array of props to adorn their stand and showcase their new tech. Once the show was over, rather than send the props to storage, Principal Global Events passed them on to Event Cycle to find them a second home once they returned to the UK.
Event Cycle matched each donated item to a charity or community organisation and coordinated delivery to each recipient. What came back from Berlin was dressing fit for a film set: artificial plants, armchairs and side tables, studio lighting and recording equipment, gaming chairs, cushions, acoustic panels, linen covered books, acrylic display stands and a good deal of fake food, along with an oversized Lego figure and a parrot on a perch. In total, 273 items, plus a box each of pens and pen pots, went to nine charities and community organisations across the South West and South East of England.
The legacy: five stories of local change
A teenage den, a calm salon and ten toilets. The charity Thomley supports disabled people and their families and carers, and took items for three different spaces. The plants, parrot, flying ducks and novelty props went into a teenage den that hosts a youth club every Thursday evening, and a surfboard, flippers and net are decorating its snack shack. Display risers, pedal bins, glass jars and a side table are fitting out a new inclusive hair salon for people who struggle with the sensory overload of a haircut, and diffusers now cover each of the ten toilets on site.
A reuse charity, rehoming the reuse.
Children's Scrapstore in Bristol diverts reusable material from landfill to support art and play for children, young people and adults. It took the largest share of the show, from acoustic panels and linen covered books to smoothie bottles, wall lights and prop food. What it doesn’t offer to schools from its warehouse will be used in its Play Pod and local play schemes, supporting creativity and imagination activities for children.
Furniture for two Eastbourne hubs.
Muma Nurture supports people through infertility, pregnancy and baby loss, and took chairs, a sideboard, pedal bins and photo holders to rebuild its hub as a more welcoming and comfortable space. In the charity's words, “it would not have been able to afford the changes without the donation”. Bourne Primary School serves a large community that lives in temporary and emergency housing, and took cushions for book corners and a beach hut area used by children with special educational needs, plus bus stop signs for its reception play area, a bucket and spade and a watering can for water play, and a lamp and bamboo dishes for a classroom.
Studio kit for young creatives.
Connect Reading is building a Culture Hub for the town and took an on air light, a vintage camera, a microphone and an oversized Lego figure, with the option of passing props on to the film and art departments at the University of Reading. Full Circle Docklands, a Bristol youth service, took a ring light for young people's video making, along with gaming chairs, a stool and desk accessories for its gaming area.
Welcoming spaces and shop windows.
4sight Vision Support, which helps blind and visually impaired people in West Sussex, took plants, a chair and baskets to make its reception more homely, with laptop stands for staff comfort and baskets for fundraising gifts. The Hope Hub at Hope Community Church in Bournemouth took a floor lamp, panel light and desk rig for its offices and coffee shop. Sparks Bristol, a department store built around climate, equality and wellbeing, took a cuckoo clock, a side table and plastic vegetables for future window displays that start public conversations about sustainability.
Delivering a lasting social legacy
Carnets exist so that goods can leave the country and return without penalty. They solve a customs problem, and the question of what happens next belongs to whoever brought the props home. Here the answer was nine deserving organisations rather than a skip.
Of course, if time allows, the carnet need not be a problem, and items can be housed in country instead. A willing client and a decision taken in the design phase is all it takes.
Planning a show with props that have to travel? Find sustainable event solutions with a lasting social legacy with Event Cycle. Whether you want them rehomed here or abroad.
Get in touch: hello@eventcycle.org
