Monday, 20 December 2010

Super Christmas Market

 Held at Somerset House every year in the lead up to Christmas, a collection of UK based designers come together to give us the Super Christmas Market.
I’ve been to this event for several years now, but this year was by far my favourite. In the past I have come away feeling I had been robbed of my £4 entry fee. This year I didn’t. 

They had a room of designer products, not just the usual tat, but items from well-known designers such as Carl Klerkin and. In the other rooms we had interaction design; ski Somerset where you created your own skiing character out of plastercine and card, and then launched off a ski jump into a sand pit. 

They also had reindeer balloon races- you had to rise up and down on a pump to inflate the balloon in the reindeer’s mouth, and the first to pop the balloon wins. I raced against my mother and I came a close first- she claimed her stirrups were too short! Clearly a sore looser. 

They had a polygraph machine so that the elves could decided who to put on the naughty or nice list, and Turkey Still Standing; you had to try and take the tablecloth off without disturbing the Christmas dinner on top. If you managed this you got points depending on how little the objects moved. Daddy made it up onto the leader board, so my little brother tried to beat him, but sadly could not. Clearly he was just too tall. Apparently there is no height advantage.
Finally they had the pound store. Every item was a pound- items ranging from Christmas cards, posters, badges to silly novelty items, napkin holders to name a few. Like all pound shops it was crammed with people fighting to find the best bargain, and to get their hands on a designer item. Some of the items were worth their £1, some not, so not too dissimilar to a regular pound shop! I bought a couple of items as I’ve failed miserably this year with my Christmas shopping,
Generally it was a very nice atmosphere, my family and I enjoyed ourselves, however if you hate design or craft fairs and fun, this is not for you.