Challenge

Liberty’s Christmas concept invited us to help transform 150 years of Liberty magic into a story told through the Liberty Elf, a whimsical maker whose mischief and artistry embody the spirit of the brand.

Designed and hand-sculpted by Plunge Creations, each Liberty Elf was a one-of-a-kind character, part craftsman, part troublemaker, brought to life with meticulous detail and Liberty fabric costumes.

The goal was to transform the store into a world of making, crowned by The Good Ship Liberty, a grand flying vessel suspended in the central atrium.

Each of Liberty’s windows was designed to tell a different chapter in the story, with the Liberty Elf as the protagonist, busily crafting, tinkering and creating scenes that celebrate the making of Christmas.

Our challenge was to translate this imaginative concept into something physically possible, to engineer, fabricate and finish every detail by hand in time for Liberty’s Christmas launch.

Insight

At the core of Liberty’s Christmas concept was the desire to show how Christmas is made, not through perfection, but through joyful, handcrafted chaos.

The design intentionally centred the Liberty Elf as the maker, positioning each window as part of a wider workshop world that brought Liberty’s heritage of artistry to life.

Within the windows, Liberty’s story unfolded like a series of tiny creative studios, each one designed to celebrate a key category from their Christmas offering while revealing the craft and imagination behind it.

The Jewellery Workshop magnified their jewellery gifting through oversized lenses and gem-setting details, spotlighting the precision and delicacy behind Liberty’s most elevated gifts.

The Atelier was conceived as a nod to Liberty’s design origins, a miniature couture studio where fabrics are laid, patterns drawn and stitches made by hand, reaffirming Liberty’s long legacy of textile craft.

For the Fragrance Lab and Apothecary, the design team leaned into alchemy and experimentation. Steaming vials, copper pipes and flowing lotions visualised the invisible craft of scent-making.

Presiding over it all, is The Good Ship Liberty, a grand flying vessel suspended in the atrium, inspired by the golden galleon weathervane that crowns the store and Liberty’s own history of being built from the reclaimed timbers of old sailing ships.

Crewed by elves racing to deliver their creations on Christmas Eve, the ship captured the energy, chaos and magic of the season, and of Liberty itself.

Solution

We engineered every detail, from the vast ship suspended in the atrium to the mechanised pulley systems across the windows, bringing the mischievous elves, and Liberty’s hero Christmas products, to life for passers-by.

The atrium ship was hand crafted from the ground up in our workshop, aged and finished to feel storied and real, with sails sewn from Liberty fabric and rigging assembled by hand. Across the windows, mechanical pulley systems, spinning cogs and animated details brought the elves’ workshops to life.

The result was a technically ambitious yet beautifully handcrafted spectacle, a celebration of movement, materiality, and Liberty’s enduring spirit of making.

On launch morning, The Making of Christmas was unveiled with a live acrobatic performance by Revel Pucks, re-enacting the elves’ story of making and mischief through movement, transforming Liberty into a living workshop of festive wonder.