Modern Wood Christmas Tree By Architect Makes A Smart and Stylish Alternative - PossibiliTree.

Richard Babcock, the father of Pat Babcock Sorensen, was an architect who built furniture in his spare time.

Tired of finding, hauling, displaying, watering and disposing of the bulky, needle-dropping, space-guzzling evergreen every Christmas, he came up with a simple and non-messy alternative to real Christmas trees.

He designed two wooden trees - a life-size version that stands at 6 feet and suspends from the ceiling with a thin wire and a 3 foot tabletop version which uses a base stand for support. Both were designed to be easy to set up, take down and store compactly, making the trees are a smart and stylish alternative.


above: Dick Babcock with his suspended 6ft Cherry tree in 1994

Prompted by recognition (In 2002, the suspended tree placed as a finalist in the national Hammacher Schlemmer Search for Invention® contest), and the Babcock family's long-standing affection for the trees, Pat speculated that others would value them as well. So, they patented the design and formed a business and the PossibiliTree was born.


above: Pat Babcock Sorenson, right, and and her business partner Nadja Reubenova, left. (image by Tom Wallace for the Star Tribune)

They produce a limited number of 6ft suspended trees and 3ft table top models in Walnut wood, Cherry wood or Birch wood (the tabletop version in Walnut is already sold out for 2011). The trees are manufactured in the US and use reclaimed or “deadfall” wood whenever possible.

Some examples of the trees from previous customers:






above two images by Tom Wallace for the Star Tribune

Their appearance harkens back to mid-century modern design and they look as great bare as they do adorned so you can keep them up all year round.

6 foot suspended tree


A favorite of architects and designers, this tree is visually stunning and ethereal. An award-winning design, the 6ft suspended possibiliTree, with 10 rows of branches, shows off ornaments beautifully. Floating 18 inches above the floor, there is plenty of room underneath to place gifts. Comes pre-strung and rolled in a bundle. Simply unroll it, hang it, fan out the branches, and decorate. (Ceiling hook not included.)


Note: as of 12/04/11, there are 93 6ft suspended possibiliTrees available

Height: 72" plus length of wire
Weight: 13 lbs
Diameter at Widest: 53"
Compostion: Wood, .07 GA/125 lb Test Wire
Comes With: Storage Box, Instructions
Note: Requires 9' or higher ceiling

3 Foot tabletop tree


Clean-lined, unfussy, practical. The 3ft Tabletop—only 28 inches at its widest—is made for smaller living spaces, but would look great as a second Christmas tree in the foyer or family room of a larger home. You can decorate this tree during the holidays and enjoy it for its artful simplicity, unadorned, throughout the year.


Note: The Walnut tabletop tree is sold out, but the Cherry wood and Birch versions are still available

Height: 35"
Weight: 3.2 lbs.
Diameter at Widest: 28"
Compostion: Wood, Metal Rod
Comes With: Cotton Bundle Cloth, Storage Tube, Instructions

Buy your PossibiliTrees here

Color Me Christmas! 10 New Pantone Christmas Ornaments.

I've been waiting for these for awhile. Almost made them myself last year. Finally, Pantone Universe has come out with Christmas ornaments made by Studio Badini Createam for Selab. So far, I can only find them at Seletti, but I hope they'll be making their way to the US soon. Made of glass, the Pantone Xmas Balls are available in ten different PMS colors.

Last minute update: Although, according to Seletti, these will not be available until Christmas of 2012 - you can find limited numbers of these for sale online now at charles and marie and Colette












Don't forget there are many other fun Christmas-related Pantone items like wrapping paper, cards and bags and Christmas inspired Pantone Posters




For more information on the Pantone Xmas Balls and where they ship, go here.

Man & Christmas Elf Explored In 14 Snowglobes By Various Architects

above: Magic Garden, one of fourteen snowdomes that exlpore the Nisse Landscape

This year DAC, the Dansk Architectural Center, invited architect firms Jaja, Primus and Masu to create new interpretations of the Christmas landscape in the form of snowglobes or snow domes, with modern pixies or elves (Nisse).



The project is a critical interpretation of the planning perspectives on the relationship between the elf, Santa Claus, the countryside and an investigation of the modern Nisses' influence on urban form and structural contexts, like the DAC to focus on a fundamental paradox in relation to the current pixie landscape.



On the one hand, continued development of 'modern city', with the expansion of modern nissehabitater, on the other hand, maintained the notion of 'the traditional pixie landscape' in the use of simple dichotomies 'city-country' and 'center-periphery' as understanding terms basis of planning. In practice this seems logical contradiction, however, mask or ignore. With respect to this masking plays the understanding of 'pixie landscape' as natural in contrast to the 'city' as a cultural importance.

This pixie landscape urban discourse seeks to establish the basis for a new dialectical synthesis between urban and pixie landscape planning, where pixie landscape refers to a common framework for Christmas in the urban and rural context. Based on this alternative understanding of pixie landscape, like the DAC to consider the possibility of anchoring the goblin and his little helpers in relation to the future planning of the urban-rural pixie landscape.



How does the Nisse live amongst us today? That was the fundamental question at this year's x-mas workshop at DAC. We chose to explore this seasonal topic through a variety of architectural and programmatic compositions, represented in these fourteen snow globes.

Xmas Bar:

Roof Garden:

Harbor Bath:

Xmas Rock:

Track and Bridge:

Xmas Traffic:

Stair House:

Shopping Ramp:

Bike Park:

Mix Doubles:

Double Facade:

Housing Bridge:

Stair House:

and Magic Garden shown at the top of this post.

via JAJA on NOTCOT
images courtesy of JAJA, information and text courtesy of DAC

Gucci, Dior, Hermes Designer Christmas Trees. The 15th Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs.

On December 1st, 2010 the 15th anniversary of the association “Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs” was celebrated at L’Espace Vendôme. The event takes place each year in France where fashion designers, architects and artists create their versions of Christmas Trees to be auctioned off for charity.


above : Jean-Charles de Castelbajac (left) and Jean Paul Gaultier (right) with their Christmas Trees

"Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs”, initiated by Marie-Christiane Marek, uses the biggest names in fashion, design and architecture to create unique art representing Christmas trees to be sold at auction with proceeds benefiting a child-focused charity. This year, like last year, the proceeds will be donated to the Carla Bruni-Sarkozy foundation and allocated for L’enfant @ l’hôpital.




Here's a look at several of the designer Christmas trees from the 15th Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs, followed by a video of the event, both in French and English.

Gucci:


Louis Vuitton:


Chanel:

Marithé + François Girbaud:

Gaultier and Dior:

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac (made with tree branches):

Isabel Marant:

Guerlain:

India Mahdavi:

Ali Mahdavi:

H&M:



Rachid Khimoune:

Patrice Gardera:

Sonia Rykiel:

Maxime Simoes and Olivia Putman:

Repetto and Hermes:

Blind Adam ( Thanos Kyriakides) and Damien da Rocha:


The 26 participants included Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Ghion, Dsquared, Gucci, Hermès, H&M, India and Ali Mahdavi, Isabel Marant, Jakob+Macfarlane, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Louis-Marie de Castelbajac, Louis Vuitton, Marithé + François Girbaud, Maxime Simoens, Olivia Putman, Ora Ïto, Patrice Gardera, Rachid Khimoune, Repetto, Sonia Rykiel, Thanos Kyriakides-Blind Adam.



Le Sapins de Noel des Createurs

In french:

La 15ème édition des Sapins de Noël des Créateurs

With English Voiceover:


A 52 minute program of the event co-presented by Marie Christiane Marek and a renowned designer will air on TV5MONDE on December 26th, 2010.

The Charities
For eleven years Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs has been associated with the Fondation d’Auteuil pour la Maison d’Orly. The Fondation d’Auteuil’s mission is to prevent and protect children between the ages of 6 and 21 years old through teaching whilst taking into account the aptitudes of each child. Among other things, a gymnasium, a play ground and a locker room have all been made possible through this relationship.

2007 and 2008: Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs has been involved with Sol en Si (Solidarité enfants Sida), a charity that supports and accompanies children and their families affected by HIV/AIDS in France and Africa. Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs was able to help in the creation of a therapy centre in Togo thanks to the money raised from its auction.

In 2009, Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs donated the proceeds from its auction to the Fondation Carla Bruni-Sarkozy where it was allocated to the charity L’enfant @ l’hôpital. Founded in 1986, L’enfant @ l’hôpital seeks to help children in hospital in the continuation of their education by providing supplies and IT support. Over the past twenty years, over 100 pediatric services have been provided with this.
images courtesy of © Valérie Paillocher / Le Journal des Femmes, Wire images, Getty images, and France 2



See the trees from last year's event.