Oh Christmas Tree

Cebu’s well-heeled gathered at the Northwing Atrium of SM City Cebu over cocktails to show their support for a very timely and noble project, Oh Christmas Tree, an auction for Christmas trees artistically and tastefully created by six prominent personalities around the metro, all for the benefit of the Typhoon Ondoy Victims and other charities. They are: Mary Anne Aboitiz-Arculli, Kate Torralba, Alex Medalla, Philip Rodriguez, Teresin Mendezona and Romulo Galicano with his artist friends. 

The six Christmas trees presented for auction had different inspirations and themes.

WHITE LIGHT by Mary Anne Aboitiz-Arculli. “The color scheme is silver and white. I wanted my tree to be simple and timeless, with understated elegance. The white birds represent hope and purity, while the mirrored disco balls lend a modern touch. The mirrored picture frames are for family pictures because Christmas is really about the people you love.”

HOLIDAZE by Kate Torralba. “There were two inspirations behind my free design — love and happiness. I just wanted my tree to be happy and pretty which I tried to achieve by combining ribbons and other knick knacks that I selected from Country Classics. As a fashion designer, I always try to incorporate an element of fun in my pieces and I hope that comes across in this tree.”

GOING GREEN by Alex Medalla. “While designing the tree, I had in mind concepts of sustainability and green architecture. Green consciousness is the topic of the day, presently at our doorstep in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy, which is attributed to global warming. The green tree would hopefully continue the drum beat until finally, environmental consciousness becomes a natural part of all of us.”

HOMAGE TO COCO by Philip Rodriguez. “My main design inspiration was the glamour of Coco Chanel. Christmas to me translates to celebrations, parties, family reunions and other occasions to dress up and be beautiful. I used dolled up bust forms, miniature shoes, bags, pearls, doves, and tulle fabric to create one chic tree.”

IL Carnivale by Teresin Mendezona. “I wanted to create a joyful, festival tree embellished with Venetian Carnival masks, feathers and beautifully colored Christmas balls. Christmas is about celebrations because no matter how dire things may seem, there is always something left to celebrate and be thankful for.”

THE ARTISTS’ COLLECTIVE by Romulo Galicano and his artist friends. “Our Christmas tree is about creative collaboration. It is adorned with several paintings in strokes and styles as varied as the group of artists who made them. The tree is cohesive in design despite the diversity of our works. We like to think of it as a metaphor for the Cebuano artistic community.”

The laudable project was made possible by The Northwing at SM City Cebu together with American Express, BDO and Country Classics. As an added attraction that night, guests who applied for a Cathay Pacific American Express Card had the chance to win 40,000 Asia Miles, equivalent to a Business Class Roundtrip ticket to Hong Kong. Gee, I wonder who got that. Lucky you!

I doff my hat to SM City Cebu for another successful and worthy project and congratulations to the Christmas tree designers who did their job so well! Cheers!