it’s the kind of scene
to melt the
heart of even the most scornful
Grinch. Standing two metres high,
a stack of letters – spelling out
‘XMAS’ – dwarfs everything in the
room, bathing it in a warm, orange
glow, thanks to 50 embedded light
bulbs. Oversized presents and giant
candy canes litter the floor, while
two baubles, each as big as a baby’s
head, hang from the ceiling. And there’s fake snow everywhere.
You can only imagine what Dudley thinks of it all. Certainly,
he wastes no time in plodding over to the nearest present and
poking it with his nose, letting out a little snuffle in the process.
The box doesn’t move, but, then again, it is twice the size of him.
In case you were wondering, Dudley is the seriously cute
French bulldog puppy who lives in the East London studio
where we’re currently shooting our cover. To front our
Christmas issue, which includes a bumper gift guide,
we thought it would
be fun to create our
own version of a
shop-window display,
inviting readers into
the magazine with a bit
of festive cheer.
What we hadn’t
planned on, however, is
how big it would all be
– that was down to
Linnea Apelqvist. The
Swedish prop stylist and set designer has created window
displays for the likes of John Lewis and GAP, and she was
adamant that it would all look better supersized.
“If you want to make a real impact, we should go large,” she
said when we met to plan it all out. “I’ll have to make the letters
myself, though, as all the ones you can buy are just too small.”
And so began a giant undertaking: it took two people two
U N W R A P P E D
{
HOW TO EAT, DRINK AND BE VERY MERRY INDEED THIS MONTH
}
A MAGAZINE FOR PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO TRAVEL SMART
DECEMBER 2013
FREE TO TAKE HOME
EJ144_001_Cover.indd 001
14/11/2013 09:11
Capturing the Christmas spirit
Giant letters, oversized gifts and a small puppy called Dudley – it can only
be the cover of our festive issue
full days just to build those monster characters, and another
morning to set it all up.
Of course, there was no denying the festive mood in the
room as this glowing stack came together for the final shot.
Even Dudley stopped what he was doing to gaze up at the
finished scene in something resembling canine reverence.
It was only then that we realised what all this really meant
to him. Doubtless the little scamp was looking forward to all
the empty boxes he’d soon be able to play with.
M A K I N G O F
T H E C O V E R
01
03
04
02
FESTIVE CHEER
01
The letters stand
two metres tall
02
Everything you need
to wrap oversized gifts
03
Stylist Linnea
Apelqvist
04
Dudley the dog
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