As the festive season fast approaches, John Lewis Home Design Stylist Graham Boden gives us a tour of the one-stop-festive shop’s six new Christmas collections and shares his top tips for perfecting the John Lewis look…
The winter months are fast approaching and with the passing of autumn come the loudening whispers of Christmas countdowns, familiar smells of cinnamon and satsumas, and the cheerful twinkling of lights. If you haven’t yet thought about the festive season, now might be the time to start, after all, “time is the one thing you’re going to run short on, so it’s better to start early,” says John Lewis Home Design Stylist Graham Boden.
Graham has been working at the three-story store located at Cribbs Causeway for 18 years. Throughout his prolific career, Graham has become skilled in creating elegant spaces and is no stranger to developing Insta-wonderlands. This month, we sat down with the stylist to find out all about John Lewis’ new Christmas collection, soaking up his knowledge on how best to decorate a tree, dress a dining table and transform your home into a winter escape, learning a mountain of sustainable and cost-effective tips and tricks along the way.
The new collections
“Christmas is always huge for John Lewis,” says Graham. “When we dress the store, you could almost spend hours wandering through our forest of trees.
“Our tag line this Christmas is: ‘for life’s moments’. As we came out of lockdown, John Lewis wanted to continue to take in that traditional side of Christmas but also embed a personal element into its designs and celebrate people’s individual interests, like their love for nature, music and sport.
“We’re heading towards an inclusive feel, all about family and friends, which just epitomizes this festive season. I think people are holding on to that burst of positivity at the moment. There are terrible things going on in the world but I think if people can grab a bit of escapism, that’s what they need.”
This year sees six new collections adorn the John Lewis floor – Winter Fare, a more traditional scheme, boasting reds and silvers. Community Garden, which showcases an autumn colouring and feeds into people’s connection with nature. Nightlife, an upbeat design that brings lots of sparkle and Champagne-coloured trees. General Store, a more traditional palette full of classic Christmas colours. Santa’s Rainbow Workshop, described by Graham as “all-time escapism”, packed full of fun, and Sugar Plum Café, a more muted, softer look, with blush colours and purple elements. Ultimately, John Lewis is injecting personality into its designs this year, and the collections truly offer something for everyone.
As for Graham’s most favourite decoration: “I would have to say the new felt baubles are my favourite – the hero baubles. We have a great selection of traditional baubles and kits, where you get multiples of different colours, semi-opaque ornaments of different sizes, which really help give more depth to trees. The kits are especially great for people who are starting from scratch, who are maybe enjoying their first Christmas in their new homes. The hero baubles, however, give the tree a boost. We’ve got flying saucers, cassette tapes, tomato sauce bottles, Rubik’s cubes, all kinds of crazy stuff bringing a real throwback feel. They’re still in keeping with the collections’ colour schemes but they’ll definitely make you double-take. We’ve also got new hot air balloon baubles (pictured top left), which are very Bristol.”
Dressing the table: top tips
“Whether it’s the first time in your home and the whole family coming round or you’re a veteran at perfecting the Christmas celebrations, the pressure can sometimes be unfairly high,” says Graham. “I always say, give yourself plenty of time. Don’t leave it to the last minute. Rather than buying everything brand new, get everything out of the loft and see what you’ve got. Regardless of how many people you’re seating, the idea is always the same:
1. Start with the underlayer. Whether you want to use a cloth or a runner, or both, make it a bold colour.
2. Add the decoration – we’ve got half a dozen decorative collections in store that you can tie in to any colour scheme – whether it be reds, greens, purples, silvers. If you’ve got an underlying colour, anything you place on top doesn’t have to be over-the-top and it doesn’t have to cost the Earth. For crackers, John Lewis has done away with the plastic insides and made sure our glitter is decomposable. A lot of our napkins are also now labelled with the OK Compost Home label, which confirms it is in compliance with European Standards and can be added to your compost heap. Why not think about adding coloured candles in coloured glass holders, holly, or foliage. I’ve seen people make centrepieces out of branches from their gardens, using a bit of spray-on paint, or pine cones from their walks during lockdown. A little personal touch is what people are craving.
3. Next, you’re looking for crockery that can take in any Christmas theme so you can reuse them year after year in different settings. For a sophisticated look, pick a colour that ties in with your scheme, taking in the underlayer, the crackers, napkins and candles.
Dressing trees: top tips
1. Check the lights first! There’s nothing worse than putting the lights on then realising they don’t work. Wrap them around the whole tree evenly. We have all sorts of styles and colours of LED lights – pure white star lights, gold cluster lights, firecracker lights, vine lights, berry lights, frosted snowball lights, this list goes on.
2. Choose your underlying colour – it could be red or it could be purple. It could even match the underlying colour of your dining table.
3. Start with the larger baubles first and spread them out evenly. If you are short on baubles but know that your tree is going in a corner, you can afford to be a bit sparse at the back. If you’ve got a hero bauble, like the tomato sauce bottle, then add it last because they go pride of place. Hang it where everyone in the room can see it.
4. As for the feature on top of the tree, keep it light in weight. Double over the top stalk of the tree to give yourself a more stable place holding and add your favourite ornament.
Top tip: When packing up the lights, be sure to wind them around a piece of cardboard or a cardboard tube from the inside of wrapping paper. This way you’ll prevent them from getting damaged or tangled and can evenly place them on the tree next year.
December workshops and talks
As always, John Lewis will be running workshops and talks in store throughout December, sharing their expert knowledge on how to style your home. “We’ll be talking about setting the dining table, dressing the tree, tips on how to bring the right fragrance into your home. I think for those who don’t have the time to put up decorations but still want to get into the Christmas spirit, we have different candles that will transform your space within minutes and you haven’t had to do anything. We’re doing a big push for sustainability this year so the majority are soy candles – it’s like choosing a perfume or aftershave, they’re quite amazing scents,” says Graham.
Home Design Service
As for Graham’s day job, the store’s home design service has been going from strength to strength, gaining in popularity year on year. Whether you’re refreshing a room or rethinking your whole home, the team can help you create a look you’ll love. Explaining how he approaches a design, Graham tells us: “We work from the ground up. If someone comes in and they have some ideas, we’ll work with those ideas, and we’ll build it in to a scheme so whether they’re looking at furniture or colour scheme, carpets, curtains, to build that inspirational scheme for them. Sometimes people come in and they have no idea, you literally are piecing things together like some kind of fabric detective.”
Customers can book a virtual, in-store or at-home appointments, which are all free of charge with no obligation to spend in store.
To shop John Lewis’ Christmas collection or for more information about the Home Design Service, visit: johnlewis.com | All images courtesy of John Lewis
