Trends are revealed in Christmas trees. Look out for beautiful ornaments made of glass hanging from festive tree branches this holiday season. It’s likely that they will remain a popular theme until 2022.
Glass blowing’s appeal has stood the test of time as each piece is unique with its own special and sometimes delightfully imperfect feel — the opposite of mass-produced tat.
Sir Elton John is just one of many celebrities that are big fans of Dale Chihuly (aka The Prince of Glass), an American artist best known for his extravagantly colored sculptural creations.
Skilled: Nao Yamamoto makes glasses in the traditional manner on Netflix’s TV show Blown Away
One of his chandeliers, a 27 ft extravaganza, hangs in the Victoria & Albert museum.
However, many are aspiring to cheaper and smaller glass because of the popularity of a Netflix show.
It is a technique that allows you to blow glass through an incredibly simple process. This method can be traced back as far as the 1st century BC in Syria or Ancient Rome.
In Blown Away, the Canadian Netflix series, ten glass blower artists battle heat and breakages to secure a £45,000 prize.
This competition is to turn sand, lime and soda (the constituents of glass) into winning objects — rather like The Great British Bake Off.
But, remembering that liquid glass can be shaped by blowing down a tube while it is still hot in a furnace at 1,000 C, makes the process more risky than adding icing to layers of cake.
Sophie Conran’s £55.25 set of six gold-plated and patterned baubles is hand-made in Cairo from Borosilicate glass
We have grown to love our home, and are determined to make it as comfortable and cheerful as we can this Christmas.
Lockdown can make even the most elegant interiors seem cold if they are uniformly neutral. Many people have attempted to add more color and personality into their homes.
Certain households are opting to use bolder wallpapers or paints, while others choose brighter accessories such as throws or patterned rugs.
However, the desire to reduce waste is growing and there’s a lot of demand for durable items that are crafted.
Pooky’s £111 Lisboa hand-blown glass shade for a pendant light in amber, green, pink and turquoise typifies the ‘buy less, buy better’ movement and would enliven a grey and beige interior.
Habitat’s hand-blown £20 Cielo blue and green vase or Toast’s small French-made £15 Amour green vase are the sort of heart-lifting presents that many would like to find under the Christmas tree.
Fine Nordic’s £33.99 set of five mix-coloured hand-blown glass tumblers, meanwhile, would add some Scandi to a Christmas table.
Oka points out that no two tumblers from its Pulcinella white hand-decorated and hand-blown £70 set of four is the same, making it ‘a unique and interesting addition to a dining table or a home bar’.
People are more inclined to host smaller gatherings at home with their families and select friends, and to spend more on tableware and glasses that can last a long time.
Only once per year, Christmas decorations are put into use. But there is the same wish to buy less, buy better, with the calculation that if you keep a £50 set of ornaments for a decade, this works out at £5 a year.
Sophie Conran’s £55.25 set of six gold-plated and patterned baubles is ‘designed to be treasured for a lifetime, and passed down from generation to generation’. This Dawn Gold Leaf bauble is made in Cairo using borosilicate.
Cox & Cox has a range of hand-blown glass baubles from £7.88 for six, including a delightful £30 set of 12 baubles with a Victorian feel.
Glass of Venice is a Venetian company that sells glass made on Murano Island, which was where the first glass blowing took place in medieval times. It continues to be blown there today.
A Murano star in blue, green or red costs £23.20 and is sure to spark joy. After the party, make sure that you safely pack everything away and label it ‘fragile.
Your home is in dire need of a Christmas cushion
Cosy: The £68 Anthropologie Snow Day cushion
The Christmas cushion brings joy and comfort together. There are many styles to choose from, so you can have one in your home.
Dunelm caters for lovers of glitz with its £15 Catherine Lansfield angel cushion, decorated with sequin wings.
It also has £14 cushions each with a picture of a different breed of dog wearing Santa hats.
Other options from the worlds of birds and animals include M&S’s £19.50 robin cushion, or Joe Browns Glorious Stag £24 cushion in burgundy and gold.
Anyone dreaming of a white Christmas will be drawn to the £68 Anthropologie Snow Day cushion decorated with fir trees and figures on a frozen pond.
Habitat has a £14 Christmas Joy cushion printed with people carrying a tree and presents.
If you’re after a modest option, B&Q has green cushions with the message Merry Christmas in gold lettering at just £5 each.
And H&M Home has £9.99 linen-blend cushion cover with the words Merry Christmas To All. It’s very simple, but the thought is what counts.
