The Year’s Best Designer Christmas Trees
Top designers are decking the halls of luxury hotels around the globe.
Sir Paul Smith for Claridge’s. Photo courtesy of Claridge’s
The holiday season never fails to inspire, with its abundance of time-honoured traditions and festive decorations from gleaming bells to wooden nutcrackers and shining stars. Most iconic is the Christmas tree, with its woodsy fragrance and twinkling branches. This year, a legion of renowned artists and top designers have trimmed the holiday trees at hotels around the world, bringing their distinctive style and creativity to the seasonal luxury hospitality space. From leather ribbons to bespoke birdhouses, Dutch-inspired pearls, and seagrass garlands, there is nothing ordinary about these evergreen creations. Here, we have spotlighted nine of the most fanciful hotel trees spreading Christmas magic this month.
Photo courtesy of Riggs Washington D.C.
Farrow & Ball x Christopher John Rogers for Riggs Washington D.C.
In the double-height lobby of the historic Riggs hotel building in Washington, D.C., a riot of colour and pattern beams from a tree wrapped in ribbons and bows. The tree is a collaboration between the celebrated American fashion designer Christopher John Rogers and British paint brand Farrow & Ball, which debuted the Carte Blanche collection of paint and wallpapers last year. Visitors will marvel at the vibrant paper bows and artful ornaments embodying the paint colour names, from silvery sardines to blue maize and raw tomatillo green, all of which were fuelled by Rogers’s childhood memories.
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Photo by Robyn Lehr
Bronson van Wyck for The Vanderbilt, Auberge Resorts Collection
Newport’s maritime heritage is the focal inspiration for 2024 tree designed by the esteemed party planner and event designer Bronson van Wyck at The Vanderbilt, part of the Auberge Resorts Collection. The property’s previous owner Alfred Vanderbilt also inspired the aesthetic, with its sparkling sea-life ornaments and message-filled bottles conjuring stories of adventures past. Be sure to check out the library too, where an early 20th-century tinsel tree shines with threads of silver and gold.
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Photo courtesy of Claridge’s
Sir Paul Smith for Claridge’s
In London’s legendary Claridge’s hotel, more than 100 bespoke birdhouses peep from a towering tree. The colourful creation, designed by the acclaimed English fashion designer Sir Paul Smith with British artist Nik Ramage, is unlike anything seen before. A symphony of birdsong plays from the medley of mechanical birdhouses, their roofs playfully decorated with cards, postage stamps, and dice.
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Photo by Ashkan Mortezapour
Jenny Packham for Pulitzer Amsterdam
The English fashion designer Jenny Packham brought her singular sophistication and glamour to the Pulitzer Amsterdam, which stretches across 25 17th- and 18th-century canal houses. Packham was inspired by one of The Netherlands’ most important artists, Johannes Vermeer, when designing the tree, using large, handmade pearl ornaments echoing Vermeer’s masterpiece Girl With a Pearl Earring. Flanking these luminous adornments are artisanal fabric bows reminiscent of the ones seen on the Princess of Wales’s Jenny Packham dress during this year’s Trooping the Colour ceremony.
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Photo courtesy of The Dunlin, Auberge Resorts Collection
Houses & Parties for The Dunlin, Auberge Resorts Collection
This summer, South Carolina’s Lowcountry welcomed The Dunlin to Charleston’s Sea Islands. To celebrate the magic of the hotel’s first Christmas, the team enlisted Rebecca Gardner, the inimitable creative director and event planner extraordinaire at Houses & Parties, to decorate. Gardner grounded the tree’s design in the bounty of the South Carolina coast, with hand-blown silver fish, oyster ornaments, coral branches, and bird feathers all complementing a woven nest tree topper and a netted-tulle skirt.
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Photos by Andrew Cebulka
La Ligne for The Dewberry
Charleston’s beloved boutique hotel The Dewberry decked the halls in Southern style with the help of interior stylist Tom Dunn and the New York City-based womenswear brand La Ligne. Inspired by the region’s famed sweetgrass baskets, the tree was trimmed with striped ribbons, shed branches, woven baskets, and decorative seagrass as a tribute to Charleston’s natural beauty and remarkable craftsmanship.
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Photos courtesy of The St. Regis New York
Ladurée for The St. Regis New York
The landmark St. Regis New York is capping its 120th-anniversary year on a sweet note. This holiday season, it has partnered with the popular Parisian patisserie Ladurée to adorn its holiday tree with oversized macarons, packages filled with sweet treats, and an advent calendar counting down the days to Christmas. Visitors to the legendary property will also discover a dedicated Ladurée macaron cart and a special afternoon tea in the newly unveiled tea salon and restaurant, La Maisonette.
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Photos courtesy of Primland, Auberge Resorts Collection
Ghurka for Primland, Auberge Resorts Collection
Deep in the heart of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains awaits the Primland, part of the Auberge Resorts Collection, where a grand tree rises over the resort’s Great Hall. The American leather brand Ghurka festooned the branches with holiday bows crafted from its signature chestnut leather, along with brass rivets and festive red ribbons. From December 15 to January 5, Primland’s concierge can even arrange fresh tree deliveries to guests’ rooms and suites, turning the entire property into a winter wonderland.
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Photos courtesy of The Connaught
Conrad Shawcross for The Connaught
The streets of Mayfair are shining extra bright this month thanks to The Connaught’s Christmas tree standing proudly over Carlos Place. The hotel partnered with the influential British artist Conrad Shawcross on the design, which includes 90 silver-coated aluminum lanterns. The artist, who has been using light in his work for over 30 years, topped the tree with a bright star, a symbol of enduring hope.
