The holidays are steeped in tradition and filled with symbolism. With so many recognizable hallmarks of the season, it’s fairly easy to distill these down to simple shapes that can play into a unique and modern geometric look, while still bringing on those festive feelings that make us tingle with holiday cheer (or is that just the spiked eggnog??). Here are some musings on how a focus on shapes can shape your holiday design.
The Look
When you’re thinking holiday symbols, those Christmas trees that have suddenly appeared in every public space in the city are a natural place to start – distilled into its simplest form, that tree is a simple triangle! Play off of this shape in everything from food presentation to decorative elements like shelves.
The holiday wreath is another familiar symbol, and circles are always such a pleasing shape to work with in design. Place settings are a natural opportunity to use this shape, and menorahs often have a half-circle shape that works beautifully with a geometric theme. Remember that you can build other shapes out of a shape, like a triangular tree made of circular buttons.
Squares also abound in holiday symbolism – think wrapped presents and frosted windowpanes. We can see a massive stack of beautiful boxes as a super simple way to make a big, festive impact. An interesting spin on this idea would be to replace expected boxes with a wooden version.
To bring this concept to life, we love the idea of a simple palette of gold, fresh greenery, and pops of wood. In the end, it’s up to you how you want to play with the geometric theme – you could embrace one shape and put it to use throughout your entire design, or combine multiple shapes for a broader interpretation.
Entertainment
The way to your guests’ hearts is through their stomachs, right? Make the entertainment rewarding by setting up a cookie-making station with geometric cookie cutters. Wreath-making stations are a great option for a play on the theme that conveniently doubles as DIY party favours.
Food and Beverage
No one can resist beautiful designs on food – it’s basically Instagram bait. Hire a barista to make eggnog lattes with beautiful geometric latte art, or pre-order chic desserts with geometric designs, and watch your Instagram notifications blow up.
Looking for more holiday event inspiration? Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of our 2017 Holiday Lookbook, and watch for Part 4 next week!
