December 24th, 2011 - Saturday

Location: Nexus Art Cafe
Designer: Naomi Jackson, fashion designer - http://runandfell.com/

Location Notes: Nexus is a very special not-for-profit cafe - creative, bohemian and working closely with the community that cherishes it. Hosting all sorts of events, educational activities and art exhibitions alongside its core cafe function. It has been the home of Sanctus 1 since its founding, so holds a special place in our hearts.

Shrine Notes: This shrine was created to evoke a sense of fun and celebration. The box itself is wrapped like a large gift, whilst inside the balloons and bunting, party poppers, sweets and birthday cake remind us of childhood birthday parties. Birthday parties are all about valuing a person by acknowledging the day they were born and celebrating their life. Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birth, and the fact that His life was God's Gift to the World. The shrine features interactive elements such as a musical candle, sweets and party poppers to take, as well as a card to write messages on.

Designer Notes: As well as conveying a sense of merriment and conviviality, I wanted to hint at the way we often cloud the meaning of Christmas with festive trimmings and paraphernalia. We get lost in the celebration itself as opposed to what or whom we are celebrating. This Christmas, challenge yourself to push past the seasonal hype, the stuff and the things that we all get wrapped up (pun intended) in and take a moment to seek out what Christmas is really all about.

Feel free to write about your thoughts and experiences with this shrine, or how you've seen people using it, as a comment (see below) or tweet @sanctus1mcr.