Aurora
AURORA
POA
Crafted from copper and adorned with 650 Swarovski crystals, this enchanting tree stole the spotlight at the 2022 exhibition in Harewood House.
Located in the music room, the tree elegantly rotated on a motor, basking in the glow of three spotlights that illuminated the crystals hanging from its boughs.
The result was a magical and mesmerizing atmosphere, offering visitors a truly beautiful experience—one that filled me with pride.
At the exhibition this description served as an invitation, beckoning viewers into the enchanting world brought to life by this unique piece –
“People today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, but ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows.
In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.
In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice.
Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak.
They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.
I wanted to make my tree look ancient and godly, strong and powerful in the dark like my own imagined goddess from ancient folklore, my own tree spirit.
The crystals to shine and bring light into the dark cold night.
To mix powerful nature with circling reflections and shimmers, to look with childhood wonder at the shiny lights and glint of Christmas.
Click below to watch a video on
Aurora at Harewood House, Christmas 2022
I will call my tree ‘AURORA’
Because I love this description I found –
Aurora is a mystical and romantic name that means “dawn” in Latin. An aurora also refers to a natural light display in the Earth’s sky The aurora borealis (the northern lights) and the aurora australis (the southern lights) paint the sky in a dazzling array of colours (but in all honesty, I’ve been calling her the Liberace of Christmas Tree’s which is probably the most accurate!!)
When I was installing and was asked about my tree I pictured a lone tree, in a vast Finland wild landscape (my boyfriend is from Finland and I have been many times into the Finnish snow-covered landscape).
It’s dead of night, and the boughs of the tree are heavy with so much snow they bend in reverence.
Of course, there is a full moon, a sky full of bright stars and wolves…..slowly circling my tree, sniffing and howling in wonder…..
Aurora is made of over 30 meters of copper pipe.
Each branch and tendril were hand bent and sawn and filed and sanded and
soldered together.
She was a beast to make and my hands had to be strong.
She has over 650 crystals hanging from her boughs, ranging from 125mm to 15mm in size, hung in no symmetrical order.
All crystals are clear but some with slightly different effects from sliver shade to silver glaze so as she turns, with different sizes and very subtle differences in shade the shimmers and glimpses of light are all different.
It’s a mesmerizing chaos of shine and light and movement.
She was designed specifically for The Music Room, to be perfectly within the central circle of the room and to correspond with the carpet and its circles, knowing the reflections on the ornate walls would create more beautiful chaos.
Add in the music box tune and it adds a slightly wonky nostalgia amidst the calm turn of the strong tree that is sparkling and reacting and touching every surface of the room with rainbows.
The more my hands repair and ache less the more I love her….