Step into the festive season
CASCADING snowflakes, canopies of light and festive willow trees are now illuminating the malls at Newcastle’s intu Eldon Square.
A bedazzling scheme of Christmas decorations is now in place at the city’s shopping centre, with a spectacular Christmas tree as the central feature encapsulating a traditional sense of festivity, with lush green foliage and delicate pea lighting.
Located outside of Boots and Clarks, the stunning tree stands nine metres tall, delivering an exciting and dramatic visual display, and is surrounded by an array of eight illuminated snowflake chandeliers, with willow style lighting cascades topped off with a ring of illuminated vines complementing the ‘Natural Christmas’ theme.
Inspired by the ‘Chinese Books’ that tell a story in 360 degrees, the tree has four upper level sections showcasing illuminated scenic panels that transform into a moving, scrolling display of colour, light, shadow and movement, inspiring stories from the imaginations of individual onlookers.
At the base of the tree, the trunk detail supplies a trigger mechanism for an interactive app that will provide families with much festive fun, games and opportunities for interactive photography.
The ‘intu Magic Tree’ app will be launched on November 23 at a special Christmas event.
A giant Christmas clock is greeting visitors to the centre on Northumberland Street. Based on a traditional style pocket watch, this countdowns the number of ‘Sleeps to Christmas’ – adding to the excitement of the festive season for children and adults alike.
St Andrew’s Way, home to Debenhams and the Apple Store, has been transformed into a festive forest of ‘willow trees,’ whose extended arms form light sprays across the space, creating a dramatic ceiling of light, with five pairs of willow trees running the length of the mall.
Supporting pillars are dressed in an intertwined berry vine in traditional red and green colourway complemented with a dressing of bright white LED pea lights.
Decorations in Grey’s Quarter include stunning 3.4m silver birch trees enveloped in LED pea lights, whose upper branches display lines of festoon bulbs creating a canopy of illumination.
Tania Vesty, marketing manager at intu Eldon Square, said: “The ‘Natural Christmas’ theme was a result of many conversations with customers, retailers and staff about what everyone would really like to see in our new scheme of decorations.
“The overwhelming response was that people really wanted us to have a Christmas tree as well as a more traditional festive feel to our decorations.
“We also wanted to create a scheme that had digital
connectivity and be more ‘photogenic’ so that shoppers could stop, immerse themselves in the festive feel and share photos across social media.
“We’re very excited about the launch of our Christmas tree app, it’s a state of the art digital augmented reality experience that customers can access when they download the free ‘intu Magic Tree app’ for a chance to play fun games, add stickers to festive selfies and also have the opportunity to win a £250 intu Gift Card.
“The Christmas experience at intu Eldon Square is really going to add to the festive buzz here in the heart of the city – the build-up to Christmas is such an important part of the season with festive shopping, meals out with friends, getting excited about the gifts you are planning to give, all the parties and great experiences with loved ones.
“Now we’re ready to get ‘Christmassing’ and eager to see our customers’ reaction to our new-look decorations.”
The new bespoke Christmas decoration scheme has been created by Chester le Street based design company Trapeze Creative.
Trapeze Creative Director Iain Kerr said: “We were thrilled to be appointed to deliver this scheme of work and it has been a delight to respond to the very specific brief of creating a traditional Christmas aura while utilising the most modern technology available. Our approach gave us the structure to incorporate a number of new techniques and ideas that we felt would work particularly effectively at this busy shopping centre. The shopping centre covers 1,400,00 sq ft, so it’s a big space to fill! We’ve used 7,800 birch trees, 10,000 light curtains, 230,148 light sprays, 62,400 vine lights and 70,140 snowflakes to bring this scheme to fruition. We’re really thrilled with the results and feel sure intu Eldon Square’s loyal customers will really embrace it and feel immersed in the spirit of Christmas.”