Thursday, December 9, 2010

Creative Christmas At The Danish Embassy

Last year, I loved seeing what the talented Ms. Watson of The House That Lars Built did with her fellow design students to transform the Danish Ambassador's modern residence into The Snow Queen's icy lair for the Embassy's annual Creative Christmas party. It looked a bit like Hans Christian Andersen discovers Anthropologie.-- awesome!


(photos from Brittany Watson of The House That Lars Built. You can see some more at Washingtonian)

Well, thanks to Brittany--thank you!!!-- Nicole and I got to check out this year's spread at the Ambassador's party last night. This year's theme was completely different. The Embassy is celebrating its 50th year in Washington so the theme was 50 years of Iconic Danish Design. 4 design students: Malene Stilling  & Mine Neumann from the The Danish Design School and Anna Martin and Scott Clowney from the Corcoran, reinterpreted the classic Christmas tree drawing on the inspiration of Danish architectural graphic design, textiles, product and furniture icons from the 50s and 60s. The results were awesome, made even more so by the limited resources and time constraints. 




I didn't have the pleasure of meeting Ms. Martin, but the the other three designers were as delightful as they come. I love hearing explanations behind inspirations, and all three were perfectly eloquent and engaging--it was a great night! Well, all except for the fact that Nicole and I managed to play the parts of rude American not once but twice! And the victim of our rudeness was none other than the host of the party, the Ambassador himself! As we were entering the party, the talented Dakota Fine, asked to snap our picture, and of course we beamed, said yes, and struck a pose, then started to enter the party when Dakota gestured to the left, asking if we met the Ambassador yet...our host, whom no, we had not met--yikes! With one step already into the main room, we had to backtrack to say hello and thank him for the invitation. I'm sure I was flustered and awkward, felt terrible, and well it was pretty embarrassing. However, not quite as embarrassing as when we left. The embassy interns were at the door with little party favors, which we gushed over thanking them for all they had done to make the evening a success. And then we breezed right out the door...right past the ambassador...again! We heard a faint, "goodbye" as we passed, and it was only when we turned around that we realized who it was. And then we started laughing...hysterically. Nic could blame it on the Gløgg. Pregnant me, alas, could not. Next year, dear Ambassador, I promise to bring my manners along with me.
(me with an embassy intern and the very talented Mine Neumann to my right. I wish I had a picture of Nicole who looked beautiful as always. )


But the real point of this post was to tell you that anyone in DC should take a long lunch break today or skip out of work early to go see the exhibition for yourselves. It's open to the public from 1-5 today, free admission. More info here. Besides getting to enjoy the students' work, you will also get to check out the Ambassador's awesome residence which is a great exhibition of Danish modern design in and of itself. It you see him, please tell him to excuse my rudeness :)


4 comments:

  1. Leah, you look great. So does the Embassy. I'm sure he thought you both were charming! Also our paper whites are thriving and the kids love them! Thank you so much! I was so worried I'd kill them!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Leah,
    Thanks soooo much for sharing! If I can I will head straight there, it looks stunning and I LOVE house tours, especially this kind! Also, if you're interested, I am doing a giveaway of my hand made pottery today on my blog.
    xx Danielle

    ReplyDelete
  3. of course! I'm so glad you got to go and wish I could have been there.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for comment!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...