Christmas and winter decor

Christmas in AELS home decor

Holiday decor works best when it changes the color of a room for a few weeks and then packs away flat, giving the space back in January. Ours is designed for exactly that. Pillows are cut to shape — a red house with stitched windows, a green tree with pom-pom baubles, a gingerbread family with embroidered icing — so two or three make a little village on the sofa rather than a row of squares.

Light for the dark months

Ceramic village houses and trees take a tea light or come lit and cordless, so they glow on a mantel or a windowsill without a cable in sight. Light through cutouts in the ceramic throws small patterns on the wall — an unexpected bit of magic on a winter evening.

Color and outline

Red and green for tradition, white and gold for a quiet contemporary look, gingerbread brown for warmth next to wood and leather. Strong, simple lines read from across the room; embroidered detail rewards a closer look. The contrast between a plush pillow and glazed ceramic gives the whole display depth, and a white ceramic tree on a dark mantel strikes the calmest note of all.

A small winter village

We think of a holiday mantel as a little piece of folk art. The ceramic houses have the organic, slightly irregular glaze of hand-thrown pottery; the pillows behave like soft sculpture; a vintage frame holds a child’s drawing or an artist’s card instead of a photo. Even an abstract arrangement — three trees of different heights and nothing else — has its own quiet beauty.

Materials and storage

Plush fabrics, velvet, faux fur and fired ceramic. Pillows ship vacuum-packed and recover within a day or two; store them flat in January. Many families love bringing the same pieces out every year — the experience of unpacking them is part of the season. Each piece was created to last for many Decembers.