DESIGN

Christmas at Claridge's

At the heart of Mayfair, Claridge's is one of London's most storied and best-known hotels.
18 November, 2016
Claridge's Christmas tree display has become a tradition in its own right. This year will be no different.
Marc Newson designs a lot of things in aluminium, so there is probably a good chance the artist and industrial designer has created a Christmas tree before. This time, though, the artist and industrial designer has been asked – along with his friend and former colleague Jony Ive, the design chief at Apple – to design the Claridge's Hotel tree, as part of the luxury London hotel's annual holiday-décor tradition.

Newson and Ive won't say what they are thinking, so no one will really know what the design will have in store before November 18. That being said, there is little doubt it will be as distinctive as the other holiday trees created by high-profile artists invited by Claridge's since 2009. They include Christopher Bailey of Burberry and last year's tree of gold- and silver-wrapped fabric umbrellas, or the stunning contribution of John Galliano for Dior in 2010.
Image: Dezeen
This one may be more unusual, because most of the speculation is about aluminium. Newson prefers the metal for so many of his tech, fashion and art contributions, many of which are rooted in his formal training in sculpture and jewelry at the Sydney College of Art.

Newson has been described as the most influential designer of his generation, and was named in 2005 as one of Time magazine's most influential people. The Australian artist has tried his hand at everything. Sterling silver, pewter, a nickel chair or a brushed stainless steel tea kettle, an aluminium bicycle or aluminium salt shakers – Newson loves the materials, and especially aluminium, because what he really loves is making things in a fluid, contoured style that the durable yet easily worked metal is ideal for.
In 2015, his Lockheed Lounge chair set a new record at the Phillips auction house in London, where the riveted aluminium and fiberglass chaise sold for £2,434,500 and kept a title (previously given to the prototype) as the most expensive object in the world sold by a living designer.

Some of his other works are rare finds as well. Newson's aluminium "Pod of Drawers" just sold at an October Artcurial auction in Paris for €1,019,800. The cabinet, shaped much like a musical instrument; is inspired by an 18th-century style later reinterpreted by French cabinetmaker Andre Groult in the 1920s. Newson's version is entirely handmade from riveted aluminium panels over a fiberglass frame.
For another piece of furniture designed for a Bono RED fundraising auction, Newson and Ive collaborated to create an all-aluminium desk machined from a solid block of the metal, with an extremely thin top layer and a cellular pattern that looks like 185 jigsaw puzzle pieces polished into one kaleidoscope.

It's no wonder that Newson-watchers expect the metal to play a role in this year's Claridge's tree, with more than a few comments alluding to the extensive use of aluminium at Apple, where the Ive and Newson influence has made its mark.

"Can't even imagine how much aluminium Jony will need for this one," writes one reader on a popular design website. "We'll be seeing the world's first unibody aluminium Christmas tree, then," added another tongue-in-cheek Apple fan.

Image: Marc Newson
One thing is for certain: If Ive and Newson deliver the aluminium tree that everyone expects, it probably will not look like those vintage aluminium Christmas trees from the 1960s Americana era – not unless the metal magician finds a stunning way to reinterpret the kitschy air of the artificial tree.

In any event, the world-class design duo will certainly create an experience just as memorable as the trees of previous years. Hotel manager Paul Jackson and Claridge's have kept the secret closely guarded until the reveal.
Banner image: Luxuo