At the heart of John Lewis is a hub of creativity that few are allowed to glimpse. A design studio that’s home to 28 designers creating original artwork that is used for everything from fabrics to furniture. The designs developed in the studio find their way onto a range of products available throughout the year, but it’s at Christmas that imaginations are really able to run wild. 

‘It’s quite bonkers,’ says Emma Turner (below left), Partner & Seasonal Events Designer, who has conceived and crafted Christmas at John Lewis for 15 years. ‘Each one of the designers – including Nina Willsher, Partner & Textile Designer (below right) – has their own style, and we all spark ideas off each other.’

If anyone understands how a brainstorm becomes a bauble, it’s Turner. She has to harness the imagination of the design studio and turn it into products for the Christmas Shop as the designers’ ideas are shaped into themes that form the collections of decorations and wrapping that delight customers each year.

The overarching theme for Christmas 2020 is art movements of the world. ‘It was an idea we’d had in the back of our minds for a while,’ explains Turner. ‘There’s so much richness and fun to be had when you look at things as diverse as Pop Art and the Impressionists.’ Indeed looking to the world’s great art movements gave the designers a treasure trove of inspiration to draw on, from the glamour of Art Nouveau to the ornateness of the Renaissance.

One of the movements brought to life this year is the Bloomsbury Group. This quintessentially British community of creatives worked in the early 20th century and are best known today for the sister act of writer Virginia Woolf and painter Vanessa Bell, and their fluid and interweaving relationships and love lives. Decades on from their heyday as artistic pioneers, their influence remains strong.

‘They were this quirky group of writers and artists who were risqué for their time,’ says Turner, who called on Nina Willsher, Partner & Textile Designer, to create original concepts inspired by the group’s painterly style and palette.

First stop for Willsher was a pilgrimage to Charleston House in East Sussex – the country home of painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, and a place where the group would decamp to paint, write and debate. ‘It was a feast for the eyes,’ she says, remembering how she filled the pages of her notepad with sketches done in situ. ‘They painted expressive patterns on every surface: walls, doors and fireplace surrounds.’

Back in the studio, armed with her Charleston House sketches and books on Bloomsbury-era art, Willsher started to imagine how John Lewis could interpret this gloriously expressive work for Christmas. ‘I sketched up specific motifs like lamps, armchairs and frames,’ she says, ‘Then I created paintings in gouache and acrylics to capture the illustrative look and feel of the Bloomsbury work.’

A jewel-like palette emerged as the collection came to life, right down to the rich berry scents selected for the candles. ‘We’ve incorporated lots of velvets and grosgrain ribbons,’ says Turner. ‘We really played on the Bloomsbury writers,’ she continues, singling out baubles in the shape of typewriters, grandfather clocks and armchairs, as well as a grand piano made from mouth-blown glass. 

'Nina's original designs are pieces of art,’ says Jason Billings-Craig, Partner & Buyer, Christmas Shop, whose job it is to translate Willsher’s illustrations into finished products. ‘Customers will find her work across a whole range of things. As well as all the baubles and garlands, there are crackers and wrapping paper adorned with festive foxes, lampshades and picture frames, as well as food gifts like panettone and Advent calendars. There are also tea towels, oven gloves, napkins and a tablecloth. I love it all.’