Zaha Hadid among celebrity
Christmas bauble designers

Fashion designer Matthew Williamson has enlisted his celebrity friends including architect Zaha Hadid, actress Gwyneth Paltrow and singer Mary J Blige to design Christmas tree ornaments, which are on display at The Shard in London and will be auctioned for charity.

Hadid’s 3D-printed design is shaped like a sinuous Christmas tree, with holes cut through sections of the green form.

“The Zaha Hadid Christmas decoration is a contemporary representation of a traditional decorative object,” states the architect on the project’s Facebook page. “Manufactured using rapid prototyping technology and materials, the piece is a digital creation representing current techniques employed in the field of architecture, design and research.”

Williamson’s own design is covered in black and white feathers, interspersed with smaller metal balls intricately decorated using tiny beads.

The bauble by photographer Rankin is a sphere of small metal spikes, while Mary J Blige’s globe is covered in card leaf-like shapes.

A blue ball by designer Polly Morgan is being pecked by a stuffed woodpecker and artist Mat Collishaw’s silver orb appears to be oozing out its insides.

There are also designs by actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Sienna Miller.

Each decoration is signed by its designer either on the surface or the ribbon use to hang it on the tree.

The designs are all on show at the Aqua Shard restaurant, located on the thirty-first floor of the Renzo Piano-designed skyscraper in London.

The baubles are up for auction on eBay to raise money for childrens’ charity Kids Company and bids will be accepted until Sunday.

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• Design