Winter Village Ornaments - Brand Design - Product Design -Installation Art
Winter Village Ornaments is my catalog of Pennsylvania Dutch inspired Christmas ornaments. My installation has been a fixture at the Easton Winter Village since Christmas, 2020.
In October 2020, the City of Easton anounced that it was going to do an outdoor, socially distanced holiday shopping village to help small businesses and to bring people together.
It was put together quickly and no one knew what they were going to do, but the Mayor gave us a simple direction:
"Do things about Pennsylvania."
I designed a series of Pennsylvania Dutch inspired Christmas ornaments and a exhibited them inside an art installation that doubled as a family photo moment.
In the years since, my ornaments have become collectibles for people in the Lehigh Valley. They return every year to get new designs and take a picture with their families.
The main thing that I want to communicate about Winter Village Ornaments is this:
Despite having no previous connection to Pennsylvania Dutch culture, my work has been completely accepted as contemporary Pennsylvania Folk Art.
That's not a coincidence. It's the product of a lot of research into the culture, design testing, and presenting the work again and again.
Winter Village Ornaments is a role that I play in the Easton Community. Below are some images of how people interact with my booth.
CAD|CAM and the Folk Art Workspace
Software and machine signatures are the markings of distinction for these little ornaments. The material is a premium matte white, opaque acrylic. And in the spirit of vernacular home decor, these pieces are a luminaire when hung on a tree or in a window.
Winter Village Ornaments - Identity - Website - Trade Show Display - Wholesale Website
In February, I exhibited at a the Market Square trade show, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
My logo is designed in the style of traditional Pennsylvania-German fractur, with one difference: it's simpler. Traditional fractur calligraphy is very difficult to read.
The colors are common in fractur and traditional barn star art, that's seen in rural Pennsylvania.
Identity - Logo - Website - Type
The type used for copy is Raleway. Its sharp, geometric style is artful and legible, on screen and in print. Its features work perfectly with the tone of the art.
The letter "W" is an excellent example of this:
TUV W XYZ
I want the artwork around the ornaments to feel austere because the actual, in person experience is really fun. Rather than go all the way into saturated Christmas Bacchanalia, I want my visitors to be focused, and I use restraint to achieve that.
Winter Village Ornaments -Final Thoughts
Winter Village Ornaments is a role that I play in the Easton Community.
Winter Village Ornaments is so much more than just making Christmas Ornaments. It's my way of connecting with the people of the Lehigh Valley.
The art and the work around it are consistent and accessible. It revived the sense of simplicity and inclusion that's implicit in folk art.
I believe that people experience art most fully in satellite moments— pulses of immersion. My role is to support people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities with queues for building bonds with others through art.
Indeed, that's what people do with my work. They buy it from me, and they give it to someone else as a gift. I love that.
Thank you