As announced in October, Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive and colleague Marc Newson were tasked with designing the Christmas tree at Claridges hotel in London. The attraction has now been unveiled and it turns out Ive and Newson have gone beyond one single tree and instead designed an entire room like a snow-covered forest — the hotel is calling it a ‘festive installation’.
Previous guest designers simply designed a tree, Ive and Newson have dressed a whole room. The piece is a mixture of technology and real world trees. The walls feature digital light boxes that project video imagery snowy birch trees.
This serves as a backdrop for natural green pine and models of Scottish pine and silver birch trees which sit on a pure white floor.
In a statement, Jony Ive and Marc Newson said “there are few things more pure and beautiful than nature”.
It’s certainly a departure from Ive’s trademark style of Apple products, clean lines and sparse blank space. Claridges Hotel will let visitors view the ‘tree’, so if you are in London you can pop in and see the installation without needing to stay there. The spectacle will stay around for the whole festive season.
