A little while ago I did a post on the current Myer Christmas Windows. On that post we had a comment from John Kerr the Creative Director who designs the windows and I thought it would be good to share his comment in which he explains the choice of theme for each year and how he goes about creating such master pieces….
Each year, the children’s book chosen is always quite different and in direct contrast to the previous years.
2008 – “How Santa Really Works” was visually very detailed and busy, whilst the 2009 season, in contrast, is visually quite basic, but entertains the audience using a combination of synchronised animation, lighting and narration.
It’s difficult designing a set of windows, which begin life as simple line drawings, which sit on a white page. The audience have an expectation for high detail, glitz etc. year in / year out, but this is not always possible, if I am to stay truthful to the chosen book.
Over the 15 years of designing & building the windows, I have tried to present as many varied themes as possible – the one underlining goal is to stimulate childhood reading.
Merry Christmas
John Kerr
Creative Director
I had also asked people to leave comments on their favourite Myer Christmas windows and I have since found that Myer have now listed on their website the theme of each window from 1956. You can see the list here and some even have photos -
