Every year in January, international exhibitors and guests gather in Frankfurt, Germany for Christmasworld, an event that presents the latest trends, colors and decorations for the upcoming holiday season.
Also annually in January, exhibitors and shop owners descend on AmericasMart at the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market. The eight-day holiday show previews upcoming Christmas ideas and merchandise.
Color and Trends
In January 2011, designers at Christmasworld presented ideas for the 2011-2012 season using products by exhibitors. According to the event press release, there were “four thematic worlds that showed how cultural pressures, nature, modernism and tendencies from the fifties are set to influence the sector in 2011 and 2012.”
Cultural Trends
Cultural displays centered on the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa with bright colors ranging from red-wine to purples with an accent of green, including lime and lemon. Other popular colors include ice- blue and blueberry shades. Asian influence is depicted in flowers and birds, while the African trend is in prints and animals.
While not part of the show, folk or Scandinavian design is also influencing Christmas décor with simple ornaments in red and white or blue and white, patterned after traditional Scandinavian sweater designs. Another popular look within this trend is unpainted, wooden animals such as reindeer, bear or wolves.
The Natural Look
Scenes from nature also inspire designers this Christmas season. You can bring it home with a live or cut tree, branches and berries, pods, cones or live plants and flowers.
I set aside a day in early December for a nature walk around my urban landscape; I can access country roads as well. My searches in past years have yielded nature’s bounty of red berries on branches with green leaves growing wild; locally it's known as the Toyon bush, Christmas berry or California holly (Heteromeles arbutifolia). Pine cones from a nature walk nestle in a basket by the fireplace. I've painted branches all shades of silver, gold or copper, depending on my mood. The grocery store yields bags of cranberries to put in a glass vase with water or other fruit; stack lemons, limes and cranberries for a cool look.
Use mixed varieties of succulents for a different look this Christmas. Hens and chicks (Sempervivum 'Mixed Varieties’) make a good choice to place in a white, large -- but shallow -- bowl. Fill the bowl with small pebbles and the plants. Add small, silver or white ornamental balls. If you’re ambitious, make a succulent wreath and hang it on the door. Another unusual look is ornamental kale, in purple and cream with light green leaves, bunched together with evergreens.
Other traditional but beautiful flowers that say “Christmas” include white amaryllis, narcissus and large poinsettias. The white complements any color combination and works on the mantle, near the tree or on a table for a simple statement.
Vintage: Think ‘50s
Another show trend that popped up at both markets was retro Christmas decorations, featuring a vintage look from the 1950s and ‘60s. Think of bubble lights, colorful glass balls, angel hair or silver tinsel and aluminum trees lit by color wheels. Nostalgia ranks high and traditionalists covet their collections in red, white and green.
More with Less
One of the predominant thoughts now is the economy. The holiday opulence of the early- and mid-2000’s has gone away. Consider a “less is more” philosophy in creating a homey feeling at Christmas.
Decorate a mantle with spray-painted branches, find goofy (clean) socks at the consignment store and hang them for stockings, gather glass jars with homemade goodies on the kitchen counter, shop at the “less than dollar” store.
Display Christmas and holiday cards from previous years. If you haven’t saved special, handmade or quality cards from friends or family, start this year. I have about a dozen special cards, spanning the past 20 years, ranging from a watercolor by my niece depicting a contemporary nativity scene, to a cut-out card from a nephew of a Christmas tree with hand-painted ornaments. One year my mom wrote a poem to me; through the years, our children surprise us with words of gratitude or joy. These gifts from the heart can be displayed on a mat board or a wall using double-sided tape.
Don’t forget a simple bowl of fruit or food on the counter to welcome guests. Red, shiny apples, small orange Clementines, a mixture of nuts or candy, and cinnamon or Jalapeno popcorn all smell and look great.
Nellene Teubner Plouffe - My passion for writing was kindled in third grade when I entered – and won – an essay contest sponsored by the local fire ...
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