Holiday Preparation

Holiday prep is one of the most anticipated jobs in the visual arts department at any retail store.  The preparation for the design concepts at Anthropologie began at the end of October.  The work we had to do can only be described as tedious!  The reason is because we needed tons of homemade tinsel and pine needles for homemade christmas trees and to place around the store.  What does this involve exactly?  Cutting paper.  Lots and lots of cutting paper.  For about three weeks, six hours a day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I cut green paper into thin strips, folded the paper, and tied a wire around it. Over and over and over.  This was with the help of about six other interns.  At the end of this time, we had about seven trashbags full of cut paper pine needles.  This job was probably the most monotonous, although completely necessary for the visual concepts.  The pine needles were eventually placed all around the store and onto three big trees.

This just goes to show how much work goes into all the installation art in retail stores, which I never even noticed until I took this internship!  It gives me a whole new appreciation for exactly what it takes to make all the decorations in stores and makes me notice and appreciate the details a whole lot more.