Eco-friendly Christmas Lights in Carnaby

It is just about that time – Christmas lights are being switched on in towns and cities ready for the festive season. Beautiful as they are (except the really tacky ones!), they raise a problem – how do you justify all that electricity in a world concerned about carbon footprints and power saving?

Last year Carnaby Street, in Central London,took a new approach and commissioned decorations which use surrounding street lighting for their ‘glitter’.

Giant paper chains covered in highly reflective holographic foils, use the existing street uplighters, to produce colour changing reflective effects. This way they don’t have to be plugged in and therefore do not use any extra electricity.

The holographic surfaces also function in sunlight so also provide an illuminated effect during the day saving even more power.

this year designer Paul Dart wanted to remind people of the magic and excitement of snow falling and demonstrate how dramatically snow can change our day-to-day experience of our surroundings.
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Each snowflake and snowman is lit by the existing Carnaby building up-lighters, making this an eco-friendly festive experience

Paul Dart, designer from James Glancy Designs, created this year's Carnaby Christmas Decorations.

Paul says, "The inspiration for this year's decorations came from the childhood fantasy of a white Christmas and the delight in creating snowmen from the first fall of snow.

"By filling Carnaby with thousands of snowflakes I want to remind people of the magic and excitement of snow falling and demonstrate how dramatically snow can change our day-to-day experience of our surroundings."

For more details visit Visit London