Seasons Greetings from Eckxstudio!

This is our modern holiday card design for 2016.  Last year I went slightly Clark Griswold on our card (see it here) but decided to feature recent projects on this year’s card.  If you are a current client you might just spot a sketch of your home on our street perspective which we’ll call Eckx Way.  Why not?

We’re reminded all around us that the holidays are here – most stores have had holiday decorations up for sale for months now and the weather is finally cold in North Texas.  We put our Christmas tree up right after Thanksgiving, and I remembered back to when my wife and I purchased our tree and where our design inspiration came from.  About 9 years ago we spent a few days in December in New York City and dined at 66, an Asian-fusion restaurant designed by architect Richard Meier.  If you know Meier’s work, monochromatic, modern, and clean-lined are themes in his body of work.  The restaurant (now closed, I don’t know when) had an all-white interior and was very modern and austere, and they had an all-white Christmas tree up in the foyer.  No ornaments, no decorations, just white lights on a white tree.

Thus was born our idea of having a white Christmas tree – and in our first year of artificial tree ownership ornaments were scarce so the all-white theme prevailed.  Fast forward through the years since – we still have the white tree but deck it out each year with different colored ball ornaments.  One year red and silver, another blue and gold.  This year we went crazy and loaded the tree up with silver, gold, and pink – here’s a photo:

Which takes me to my second point of this post – Christmas trees don’t have to be evergreen and laden with multi-colored lights and garlands to be a Christmas tree.  They can be modern.  Contemporary.  Dark or bright.  Tall or short.  Whatever – go with what you like, that’s what I say.  If you’re interested in seeing a selection of modern interpretations of Christmas trees (aside from ours) here are a few I found in far corners of the web.  Most of the images were sourced freely through Google Images but several are available so I’ve included a reference link.

I found this wood tree at Inhabitots.com – love the flat-pack aspect to the hinged wood arms and you can get pretty creative with the decorations even if you don’t use lights.

I saw this hanging interpretation of a Christmas tree here on Houzz – simple chromed rings suspended by cables, and the ornaments are spheres or crystal drops.

Need a small desktop tree?  Turn to 3D printing for you needs!  This tree by Sculpteo can be 3D printed in a variety of colors and shipped straight to your front door.

Looking for an all-silver hanging tree that features a single up-light that sits on your floor?  Turn to Lumens.com for this tree designed by Bud Stoecker for Modern Christmas Tree (and the shadow pattern on the walls and ceiling is probably quite interesting at night.)

Or something more simple perhaps?  After all, modernism and minimalism often go hand-in-hand.  Try these simple trees which even appear DIY if you’re in the mood to craft your own modern tree.

And on the truly DIY front, try making a cardstock or cardboard cutout like this one:

Lastly, no matter how you approach this holiday season (or even if you don’t celebrate the season at all) I hope you have an enjoyable winter and best wishes for the start of 2017!   -Dan

…you didn’t think I’d forget one of the most iconic, modern, minimalist trees out there did you?  That’s right – it’s the Charlie Brown Christmas tree!  Well, before the needles all fell off in the old-school TV special.  You can procure a version of this at numerous retailers and big-box stores so check your local shopping scene.

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This post was originally written before re-branding as Eckxstudio for Modern Architecture at the end of 2017.

At Eckxstudio for Modern Architecture, we design unique and stunning projects, individually crafted for our clients’ lives. We’re passionate about listening to your needs, wants and desires as inspiration to design the dream home you’ll never want to leave.