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Ho! Ho! Ho!
A Global Perspective: Christmasworld
One of the highlights of Christmasworld in Frankfurt, held in January, was the ‘must visit’ trends area, which featured a fabulous, colourful array of exhibitor products. The area showcased three key festive themes that designers stilburo bora.herke.palmisano predict will be the Christmas 2020/21 winners. Amidst the Santas, trees, baubles, crackers, gift food and Christmas lights, PG&H was at the show to catch an early glimpse of what the forecasters predict will be ringing up festive sales over the coming months. Christmasworld‘s dedicated trends area is always a major source of inspiration for colours, materials and designs, with sustainable principles, coupled with innovative materials and designs, changing the way we think about celebrating and decorating. One trend that really stood out at the January show was Happy Get Together. As its name suggests, the trend is based around making more time for family and friends, reflecting a more mindful lifestyle and a new sense of ‘us’. It’s wholly centred around enjoying and celebrating things together, and sharing happy moments. Maximalism - more is more - was depicted with a lavishly decorated long, showstopping table, overflowing with colourful festive tableware, table decorations, candles, crackers and gift food. The display created a warm ‘getting together’ vibe, with unusual baubles including hanging green pickles and avocados! Also running through the trend was the idea of waste products having a second life, influenced by craft techniques such as braiding, knotting and
layering, with lots of motifs seen on, for example, baubles. By contrast, Green Ritual, inspired by natural vegetation, was a more calming trend, displaying a minimalist design. Colours were light and soft - grey, taupe, sand and light fern green - contrasted by deep red foliage and Autumn leaves. Silken Party meanwhile, inspired by unusual flowers and petals, revealed two distinct sides: one that was soft and sophisticated, with warm organic, cloudy shapes, featuring pastel colours; the other featuring fun, sorbet shades. Aside from the trends area, another major attraction at the show was the Retail Boulevard (BLVD) concept area which focused on a customer’s journey to the point of sale in different types of retail outlets, showing how forward looking retail models can look. “It enabled visitors to take a peek into the future,” pointed out Christmasworld’s show director Eva Olbrich. The next Christmasworld take place from January 29 to February 2, 2021. Visit www.christmasworld.messefrankfurt.com
A ‘Blue’ Take On Christmas A spectacular highlight at the show was Decoration Unlimited - Dark Ocean, which put a new take on blue tones for Christmas. There were two themes stormy seascapes contrasted with a beach club vibe - with both stunning displays surrounded by Christmas decorations in blue hues.
Top left: A visitor having fun at Christmasworld. Top right: Green Ritual reflected a calm minimalism. Centre left: Happy Get Together was a key theme at the show. Above centre: The future of retail was unveiled at the show’s Retail Boulevard. Left: Silken Party contrasted pastels with sorbet shades.
Left: Decoration Unlimited-Dark Ocean was a dramatic display at the show.
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