Casper, The Spirit of Christmas, To Take up Residence in Berlin
When Christmasworld finally shut its doors to the trade and professional public on 29 January 2013, a number of visitors were still on tenterhooks, hoping that they might have won the ‘spirit of Christmas’. The children’s cartoon character, Casper, enchanted the members of international festive and seasonal decorations sector, who had gathered together in Frankfurt am Main. Now the winner of this year’s raffle for the ‘Les Sapins de Noël’ creation has been drawn: Casper is to move from Paris, via his stay in Frankfurt, to live with his new owners, the landscape gardeners and garden centre owners, Gartenbau Rothe, in Berlin.
This is the second time that an icon of the fashion world has designed an exclusive ‘Christmasworld Tree’ for the French charity initiative ‘Les Sapins de Noël’; this year it was the turn of Charles de Castelbajac. “For the last 17 years, the organisation has successfully combined the glitz and creativity of international fashion designers, architects and artists with the mission of helping people. We are very proud that we have been able to make our contribution as major sponsors,” says Eva Olbrich, Director of Christmasworld.
While Castelbajac’s Casper inhabited Exhibition Hall 11 with its enchanting presence, visitors and exhibitors alike were able to take part in the raffle in the ‘Les Sapins de Noël’ area and, with a bit of luck, win the designer’s lighting installation. A week after the end of the event, it fell to Eva Olbrich to be the handmaiden of fortune and draw the winner from amongst the participants. Traditional Berlin landscape gardeners and garden centre owners, Gartenbau Rothe, are delighted by the growth they have seen in their family business: “This is the fourth time that we have visited Christmasworld with several members of staff, and we have bought as many Christmas items as possible in a short space of time, and also products for spring, summer and autumn. In Frankfurt we meet our suppliers who bring a major part of the range of new products; we can compare and get inspiration,” explains winner Lutz Grille, a qualified landscape gardener and fourth generation Managing Director of the garden centre. “We have been delighted – and amused, too – to have won such a great prize into the bargain.” The piece of art, a representation of the spirit of childhood, Casper, is a great piece of friendly fun, there to bring pleasure to the observer,” continues Grille.
Many visitors commented on how unusual the Christmas creation of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac is – they had actually expected some kind of Christmas tree. The artist was able to make his concept a little more approachable at the formal opening ceremony at Christmasworld and explain why it did not always have to be a tree: “Casper is a ghost from one’s childhood – a sort of ‘spirit of childhood’. As a result, for me, it represents a very good metaphor for Christmas. There is always something melancholic about these holidays, they are heavy with memories of past Christmases. That is what Casper represents in my eyes,” says de Castalbajac. “Christmas is also, for me as for many others, marked by thoughts of those who are longer with us,” continues the artist. With his ‘Casper’, the fashion designer brings new life to a quite specific spirit of Christmas, and invites the viewer to join him in revivifying their long-forgotten memories of childhood.
The traditional firm of Rothe looks back over an eventful history and is delighted to add Casper to the family
Landscape gardeners and garden centre owners at Gartenbau Rothe have also seen a large number of Christmases and can look back over 113 years of company history. The family firm has already existed for more than a century in Berlin and has witnessed many historical events on their doorstep: progress and set-backs, times of war and times of peace, recession and Economic Miracle, the building of The Wall and German Reunification. But at Rothe they have also seen some enormous technological changes – from the punch-card to the internet, from the watering can to computer-controlled fertiliser systems with automatic plant-pot watering facilities. Casper will certainly feel at home in an environment such as theirs, with their great sense of tradition and family, and will enchant young and old alike: “We’re not yet quite sure where we are going to set up Casper in the garden centre, but we’ll find a suitable, safe place for him. We are planning the installation for the autumn, so that he can work his magic on the customers, right from the start of the Christmas trade,” says Lutz Grille. For him, personally, Christmas means spending a pleasant and peaceful time at home with his wife, brothers and sisters and parents beneath a huge Christmas tree. “The thought behind the creation of this neon Casper is an extremely nice one, and it makes complete sense to me,” continues Grille.
Discussions on continuing cooperation under way
Discussions about the continuation of cooperation between Christmasworld and the ‘Association Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs’ are in progress. All those involved were very happy with the cooperative venture and found it inspirational. “The whole project hugely enriched our experiences and was great fun into the bargain. We can well imagine continuing our cooperation with Paris at Christmasworld 2014,” says Eva Olbrich.
Christmasworld: The World of Seasonal Decoration
With an attendance every year of over 930 exhibitors and more than 30,600 visitors from all over the world, Christmasworld is the leading international trade fair for festive and seasonal decoration. Here, buyers from the wholesale and retail trade, volume-buyers from garden centres and DIY chains, florists, interior furnishings consultants and interior design and decoration companies find the trends and new products for the coming season, as well as for Christmas and the other festive times of the year such as Easter, Halloween, New Year, birthday parties, Mother’s Day and weddings. No other trade fair presents as wide a range of festive products and decorative concepts for large-scale and outside areas as Christmas world does.
Note for journalists:
Further information on the international trade fair itself, on the trends and exhibitors’ views, together with illustrative material can all be downloaded at: www.christmasworld.messefrankfurt.com.
Background information on Messe Frankfurt
Messe Frankfurt is Germany’s leading trade fair organiser, with 538* million euros in sales and 1,891* active employees worldwide. The Messe Frankfurt Group has a global network of 28 subsidiaries and approx. 50 international Sales Partners, giving it a presence for its customers in more than 150 countries. Events “made by Messe Frankfurt” take place at more than 30 locations around the globe. In 2012, Messe Frankfurt organised 109* trade fairs, of which more than half took place outside Germany.
Messe Frankfurt’s exhibition grounds, featuring 578,000 square metres, are currently home to ten exhibition halls and an adjacent Congress Center. The company is publicly owned, with the City of Frankfurt holding 60 percent and the State of Hesse 40 percent.
r more information, please visit our website at: www.messefrankfurt.com
* preliminary figures (2012).
