Patrick has so much flair and creativity interwoven through his day to day life, in his own home, and in his design work. With his innate and intuitive knowledge of colour, I was curious as to how Paddy felt towards his Christmas tree, and how he chose to decorate it. I was most drawn to his use of “Old Man’s Beard” on his tree this year and its ability to capture light, glowing silvery-white. “It is glorious when the lights are on, so ethereal”, he told me. Ethereal is the word. I can imagine how it glows in a darkened room.
Do you have a ritual in selecting your tree? Where do you go? What type do you tend to go for? Do you visit the same place each year?
Since moving from Ireland back to Worcestershire at the end of 2020 we have used our local nursery and touch wood, each year we have always managed to find the perfect tree- generous of branch and needle and a joy to decorate. Alas, we have much lower ceilings now so just squeeze in an 8ft one, Ireland was always a great big 10ft tree which was a joy but now we are more domestic in scale. We usually opt for the Nordmann Fir which has a lovely sent and doesn’t drop too much.
What does decorating the tree mean to you personally?
A joyful ritual- we love getting the boxes out each year and rummaging through the tissue paper unfurling little gems of shiny (and not so shiny delights) all done with a chilled glass of manzanilla!
When you think about your Christmas tree, what feelings or memories come to mind first?
Rather than dripping in family ritual and memory, it’s much more about the last 20 years with my partner Paul, the little decorations we have bought on trips together or individual purchases on separate travels. Our first UK trip together was in Hay-on-Wye and we found some really charming baubles in a craft shop, which still go on the tree now.
Do you think that your tree says something about who you are?
Not really personally but it definitely is a timeline of our time together. We started our decorations from scratch.
Family Background & Passed-Down Traditions:
Did your family have any specific tree decorating traditions when you were growing up?
In the 70’s the tree was deliciously kitsch with those classic fragile decorations which always seemed to break no matter how careful you were, then we moved into the ’themed’ tree of the 1980’s with loads of plaid ribbon and limited palette of decorations- this lasted for about 20 years!
Are there decorations or ornaments that have been passed down across generations?
Sadly not, they all persisted over time
Decorations with Stories:
Do you have a favourite decoration? What’s the story behind it?
Paul bought a beautiful hand painted ceramic lemon (not Christmassy at all) but it is very beautiful, if somewhat heaving, so requires a strong branch. I bought some really sweet glass robins from ABC carpet & home in NYC which I love but some, sadly, have fallen fate to the decorations of yore as very fragile glass.
Are there ornaments that commemorate specific life events, marriages, births, travels, milestones?
As I travel often (or used to) with work I would collect decorations if away at this time of year, so the tree has a vast expression of my work trips with decorations from St Petersburg, Kyiv, Stockholm, Oslo, Milan, New York etc which are lovely mementos of places visited.
Do you buy or make a new decoration each year? How do you choose it?
My crafting is useless but we do tend to buy one or two, if interesting enough to hang. I do forage too, so quite often (I now keep secateurs in my car from late November) look for old man’s beard, teasel heads and fennel and put these through the tree.
New Traditions:
Have you created any new traditions with your own household or loved ones?
We have reinterpreted the tinsel strips with various widths of different coloured grosgrain ribbon tied on the end of branches- we tend to add one new colour each year- it’s all about colour and avoid achingly matchy!
Do you plan your tree ahead of time, or do you decorate intuitively? Blimey, no planning whatsoever, we buy the tree mid December and just do it.
Is your tree more about aesthetics, sentiment, or a blend of both?
There are no aesthetic goals with the tree, but there is a certain sense of continuity with the odd new thing added- it’s always very much ‘Our Tree’ with stuff we have accumulated over our time together.
If you could pass one tree decorating tradition on to the next generation, what would it be?
Be free, don’t do trends and don’t, at all costs, do matchy matchy- hideous.
What do you hope decorating the tree will look like for you in the years to come?
An evolution of the one we have now.
Follow Paddy on Instagram: paddy_od_1
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