Office buildings, malls, municipalities and stores employ holiday decor to create excitement, spread goodwill and improve fourth- quarter sales. The following are examples of 2005 installations that combined creative ideas and successful execution.
A Tree on a Pedestal
When Bridgewater Commons Mall decided to upgrade its Christmas decor last year, it invited three design companies to submit their ideas. "We told them we wanted something lovely and sophisticated - but whimsical because we have so many children in the area," says Barbara Finn, marketing manager of the 140-store New Jersey shopping mall anchored by Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor and Macy's. The design company that was chosen, Center Stage Productions of Fair Lawn, N.J., wowed Bridgewater's decision makers by proposing a towering 25-foot Christmas tree poised on an 11-foot-tall octagonal pedestal for the mallâ's atrium. Within the pedestal would be alcoves, one of which would house Santa's chair and each of the others providing a backdrop for a topiary reindeer engaged in various holiday activities. It promised whimsy to the max - done with a New Yorker-magazine style of sophistication for the Mall's three-story octagonal center-court atrium. “The center court of the mall is the most dynamic space, so we wanted to put something in there that was spectacular," says Jack Dorner, creative director of Center Stage Productions, which specializes in holiday decor for malls and large public places. “The atrium was so tall we couldn't build a tree that you could electrify to fill it, so we built a tree and a base that together would dramatically fill the three-story space." The piece-de-resistance was the eight-sided base, which the designer used to its fullest advantage. “On seven sides of the base, there were mirrored niches," explains Dorner.
“Each niche had in it a stylized topiary reindeer with gold antlers, and on the stem of each antler was a lampshade. So each reindeer had six lampshades on his antlers and the lampshades were designed to match the activity that the reindeer was performing. For example, if the reindeer was mailing letters in a mailbox, the design on the lampshade had postage stamps and little letters. We had seven of those reindeer, and on the eighth side of the pedestal was the Santa set, where Santa sat on his oversized green tufted banquette and greeted his visitors." One of the challenges for Dorner was the very high glass elevator tower in the center court. “Those glass elevators have a tendency to dominate the space. We needed to make sure that our center court installation would not be overpowered by the elevator." Dorner's solution was to integrate the glass elevator into the Christmas design. “The elevator had a balcony. We perched on the balcony a trio of these mechanical topiary reindeer playing musical instruments. So we tied in the elevator column to the reindeer that were around the Santa set." There was also a baby grand piano in the center court. Rather than remove the piano, Dorner installed a mechanical reindeer in a tuxedo who appeared to be playing the piano. Dorner also tied in the Christmas decor in each of the Mall's wings through color, pattern and icons. “I added one more icon to the mix --� giant mesh Christmas ornaments that were either 12-, 11- or 10-feet tall, hanging in clusters of three. Around each of those clusters spun a giant ribbon that had the same pattern as the banners on lampposts in the mall. So I tied pattern, color and iconography together throughout the mall."
“We got a wonderful reaction from the public," enthuses Barbara Finn. Our sales increased in the mall, and our photo sales with Santa also increased."
It's a Wreath and a Corporate Logo
It's the largest wreath you may ever see --� in fact, at 26 feet in diameter, it is the King Kong of Christmas wreaths. It graces Complexe Desjardins, the vast downtown-Montreal corporate headquarters of a Canadian financial company, where it is perfectly in proportion to the the skyscraper's 60-by-45-foot front window. The giant hexagonal wreath was the brainchild of Yves Guilbeault, an artist whose Montreal firm, Plus Que Noel, specializes in designing upscale holiday decor. Guilbeault's philosophy is perhaps best expressed in this statement on his Web site: “We unabashedly confess to our penchant for the spectacular." And spectacular it is. The massive three-dimensional, six-sided wreath, which is an oversized replica of Desjardin's hexagonal corporate logo, is festooned with 260 sets of mini-lights and 90 sets of C-7 bulbs. The metal frame for the wreath was purchased from a specialized supplier “because the frame had to be approved by the building's engineers," says Karine-Eve Crochetiere, visual and development advisor for Plus Que Noel. All the mini lights were placed, one by one, into the wreath's foliage at the same distance from each other by Guilbeault's workers, she notes. And the coup de grace of the colossal decoration was the oversized spray of holly on the lower right side of the wreath, its leaves and berries made from natural vine wicker. Guilbeault was asked to come up with an idea for Desjardin's holiday decor after the corporation's executives were impressed by his decor design for the Montreal Hyatt Regency. Guilbeault was inspired by the Complexe Desjardins architecture (the entire four-million-square-foot building complex, whose three office towers add up to 99 floors, is laid out in the shape of a hexagon) and its corporate logo (which is a green hexagon). He came up with the idea for a green hexagonal wreath. Nothing, it seems, could have been more en point for corporate pride than that and Guilbeault won the contract.
The feedback on the massive wreath after its installation last year was most gratifying, according to Guilbeault, “The Desjardins people were very pleased. They liked how well it turned out and the fact that it represents them but still has holiday spirit. They liked the clean look of the wreath and its proportions versus the window. And they liked that there was no religious meaning, just neutral. It just gives a festive feel." In fact, adds his advisor, Crochetiere, “Our wreath has gotten a lot of attention in the city. You walk down the street and it stops you in your tracks. You just can't miss it."
Christmas Cinderella
Christmas windows are a beloved tradition at Marshall Field's Chicago flagship store. Like other urban department stores --� Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdale's, Barneys and Macy's --� Marshall Field marks the opening of the holiday shopping season with the annual debut of its themed windows, which are a major local attraction and draw numerous visitors to the store. (Due to a corporate merger, all Marshall Field stores will become Macy's stores as of this fall.)
In 2005, Field's eleven windows told the age-old story of Cinderella. Field's visual display department worked with New York based Spaeth Design to create animated version of illustrations by Diana Marye Huff. “We used her drawings as a jumping off point," reports Amy Meadows, visual marketing manager for the store, which is on State Street in the city's downtown shopping district. She notes that both Marshall Field executives and the public were delighted by this year's windows. “The colors were wonderful -- lots of vivid pastels such as lavender, mint green and buttery yellow --� and there were many humorous touches. There was nothing saccharine; the expressions on the stepsisters' faces were wonderful. Some people who saw them day after day told us they always saw something new in them. And they looked great both from a distance and close-up." Previous window productions at Marshall Field have included “Twas the Night Before Christmas," “Snow White," and “A Christmas Carol," according the Meadows, who notes that some years the focus is explicitly Christmas themed, while in other years, it's a fairy tale. “Some customers tend to like the fairy tales, others like the more Christmassy themes," she says, adding that the fairy tales tend to feature a backdrop or holiday references that give the windows a Christmas feel. Meadows credits much of the windows' success to Spaeth Design. “It's a always a pleasure to work with Spaeth. They're master practitioners of their art."
Stars Fill the Sky
Display artist Bill Schaffell prides himself on originality. When he designed Christmas party decor for a recent client, the Christmas trees were pink, yellow and green, and “we installed them upside down. It turned Christmas on its ear."½
Schaffell, president and owner of WJS Studios, a display company based in Ontario, Canada, got word last year from the marketing director at Carlsbad Premium Outlets, a 90-outlet shopping center in Carlsbad, Canada, that a higher-up in the company loved the giant snowflake that hangs over 57th Street in New York City. He wanted Schaffell to do the same sort of thing for Carlsbad's central courtyard area. Schaffell set out to change the minds of the Carlsbad executive. “WJS Studios is known for its creative and original ideas for our clients. We don't duplicate any designs from another mall," he explains. As an alternative to the snowflake idea, Schaffell came up with the inspiration of using Moravian stars --� multi-pointed three-dimensional stars --� hung in the sky over Carlsbad Outlet's central courtyard. “I shot a picture of their courtyard, photoshopped into it my concept and sent it off to Carlsbad. The marketing director showed it around corporate headquarters and I guess everyone liked it, because they hired us to do it."
So, last Christmas, Schaffell's team hung 50 Moravian stars, ranging in diameter from 12 inches to six feet, in the Carlsbad courtyard. Each star was lit from the inside so that it glowed at nighttime. “Carlsbad is an outdoor shopping center with beautiful Spanish and Mediterranean architecture," notes Schaffell. “The stores face each other around the central courtyard, which has palm trees and fountains. We hung the Moravian stars overhead in this courtyard so that no matter what direction you entered the area from, you could see these glowing stars overhead from a distance. It was really quite stunning to see these brilliant stars against the black sky. Installing the stars was a challenge," he notes. “We ran a total of 12 steel cables, from 40-feet to 100-feet-long, attached from rooftop to rooftop on the buildings facing the courtyard, to create a grid for us some 30 feet in the air. We suspended the stars at various heights below the steel wire grid. When you hang a wreath from the air, it's only going to look good from two sides, but these stars looked good from any direction you looked at them," says Schaffell. “And because you can walk under them, you become part of the magic. You enter into the feeling of the stars." To check the success of his creation, Schaffell went several times to the Carlsbad central courtyard to view his installation, where he sat on a bench under the stars and listened to the oohs and aahs of passersby. Schaffell confesses that as a child he loved to perform magic tricks for an audience. “I was an awful performer," he admits, “but I loved the ability to create illusion. I think what I do now is still magic. I'm creating an environment for a short period of time. I'm really an illusionist." |
