LAPLAND COMES TO BANGKOK
Central Embassy has been turned into a winter wonderland as Santa sets up a holiday home in time for Christmas By Usnisa Sukhsvasti
Central Embassy has taken on a festive look for the Christmas season under the theme “The Winter Ville”. The winter wonderland was officially opened with a colourful event, “Let’s Celebrate 2016: The Winter Ville”, hosted jointly by Central Department Store, Central Embassy and Central Credit Card on the ground floor of the shopping centre.
According to the hosts, Barom Bhicharnchitr, managing director of Central Embassy, and Atis Ruchirawat, managing director of General Card Services Company Limited, The Winter Ville is Thailand’s first winter wonderland which simulates Santa Claus Village in Finland.
The highlight of this festival was “The Christmas Lapland Fairground”, a four-storeyhigh castle decorated with lights. The castle was decorated with painted Christmas balls from eight ambassadors to Thailand, some of whom were present at the event, including Qatari Ambassador Jabor Ali HA Al-Dosari, British Ambassador Mark Kent and the wife of Hungarian Ambassador to Thailand Krisztina Szabo.
The Christmas balls each reflected the character of each country. Denmark’s Christmas ball featured Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy-tale characters such as the Ugly Duckling and the Little Mermaid; Hungary — the national flag colours of red, white and green were translated into the flowers of Hungary’s Matyo folk art; Italy’s national colours of green, white and red were also the traditional Christmas colours; the ball of the Netherlands symbolised “pass on the love from the Netherlands to Thailand and the rest of the world”; New Zealand’s ball was inspired by the silver fern; Qatar used blooming flowers to represent the 35 years of close ties between Qatar and Thailand; the UK ball featured a message: “May all the happiness be yours this Christmas”; and the US design resembled the iconic crystal ball at Times Square, New York, with the American flag.
When the event started, emcee Pitta na Patalung welcomed everyone to enjoy Christmas carols by a children’s choir, followed by a fancy parade, joined by the “Snow Princess”, enacted by superstar Davika Hoorne. The ambassadors, hosts and sponsors then joined the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, bringing The Christmas Lapland Fairground to life, signifying the beginning of the festive season at The Winter Ville. The guests were then entertained by melodious Christmas songs from The Voice Thailand’s Kittinan Chinsamran and Manasanan “Anchee” Aksorntueng.
The Christmas Lapland Fairground was created by artist Jackkrit Anantakul, who has created many masterpieces in Thailand and overseas. He explained his inspiration for the design. “When I was young, I watched cartoons and animations and saw how inanimate things came to life. It was very exciting. Now that I am a creator, I thought about designing a castle that could come to life.
“It took me three months to design this castle based on the event’s main theme. I talked to the BUG Studio team about using lights to create a castle. Christmas, for me, is all about imagination, so I designed a live castle. Some parts are monsters with balls rolling through their mouth. There are robot guards. The top of the castle is made of flowers, as the castle is guarded by the god of flowers who gives beauty and happiness to everyone.
“One of the highlights of this fairground is the Marble Machine, inspired by the small version. It has monsters’ mouths and the robots’ cannons with sensors and motions. The machine takes the ball up and releases it, and the ball comes down and rolls around. It’s like an art and science experiment that I want everyone to see.”
Guests also had fun at the several game booths on the ground floor, such as The Nutcracker Dancing, Feed the Uncle Santa and Knock My Teeth Down. They also viewed ‘The Palace of Light’ with more than one million lights decorating the 400m sidewalk along Phloenchit Road, from the Witthayu Road intersection to the Chidlom intersection.
The Garden on the 5th floor was also transformed into “The Hopping Market”, bringing together the best eateries for guests to come hang out and enjoy the winter breeze and a beautiful view of Bangkok.