Tony Chambers on London's best Christmas trees

It’s an appropriate moment to honour the best and the brightest Christmas trees that have been erected in our capital for the festive season. This year’s offerings involve a number of big names in art and design, a welcome reflection of creative ambition, visual refinement and, of course, deep pockets on the part of patrons.

Tate Britain has a long tradition of festive commissions to leading contemporary artists. This year’s tree, by the London-based Iranian Shirazeh Houshiary, is a reworking of her 1993 contribution, which featured a pine tree suspended upside down, unadorned save for the gold leaf covering its exposed roots – a poignant tribute to the pine’s hidden ‘stability, nourishment and longevity’.

In another stroke of conceptual genius, British artist Alex Chinneck (best known for ‘tearing apart’ Covent Garden Market with his optical illusions back in 2014) encased a Christmas tree inside a giant cube of resin, sculpted to appear like an ice cube on Granary Square. Titled Fighting Fire With Ice Cream, Chinneck’s installation is a whimsical nod to the rows of fountains in front of Central Saint Martins.

On the hotel scene, The Edition enlisted set designer Simon Costin, a collaborator of fashion houses such as McQueen and Margiela, to create a tree inspired by Welsh folklore. Over in Shoreditch, the Ace scored a double whammy working with design studio Fabrica on a sculptural number in its lobby and Jonathan Anderson on a tree for its restaurant, Hoi Polloi (covered with the countenance of Michelangelo’s David).

Two of London’s grandest hotels, The Connaught and Claridge’s, wowed with the most innovative commissions. The former engaged sculptor Antony Gormley, who joined forces with Austrian lighting manufacturer Zumtobel. Together they transformed the trunk of a 17.5m western red cedar tree into a magnificent column of light. Claridge’s signed up Apple power couple Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson. The resulting installation is appropriately forward-looking with a series of light boxes, a soundtrack featuring forest animals, choreographed lighting and models of pine trees juxtaposed with natural ones — an ode to the relationship between nature and technology. In their masterful hands, the grand lobby has been transformed into a veritable winter wonderland.

The experience

Christmas Past: 400 Years of Seasonal Traditions in English Homes sees the period living rooms at the Geffrye Museum festooned with Christmas decorations to illustrate how the holiday has been celebrated from 1600 to the present. The earlier rooms emphasise food and table settings while later ones reflect a wider range of celebrations. Stop by until 6 January to drink in the festive spirit.

The product

Created in 1995 for Princess Diana, the iconic Lady Dior bag has been reinterpreted by seven British and American artists as part of the Dior Lady Art project. Among them are original Young British Artists Mat Collishaw and Ian Davenport. Collishaw, whose works often reflect nature, created a print of one of his insecticide pieces to decorate the bag’s glazed leather while Davenport, known for his vibrant stripes, took a sequence of lines from his Colorfall paintings and embossed them in metallic tones on his edition.

The tech

The self-lacing shoe, as worn by Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part II, has arrived in the real world. The Nike Hyperadapt 1.0 is the first commercially available trainer to feature ‘electro-adaptive reactive laces’, meaning that a sensor in the heel will tighten the laces automatically the moment the wearer steps in. Hyperadapt may sound gimmicky for now but it heralds a future in which our shoes can adapt their snugness to changing movements and become symbiotic with our feet. Now that’s design evolution.

The building

Danish duo Ole Kristoffersen and Steen Skallebæk made their name with the sleek bakery chain Lagkagehuset, which has more than 50 sites in their native land. Their first overseas venture, an all-day restaurant called Ole & Steen, opened on 19 December. Situated in the new, hip St James’s Market, it features a black and copper façade and distinctively Scandinavian interior, courtesy of design studio Space Copenhagen, alongside a mouthwatering menu of handmade loaves, pastries and slow-roasted coffee.