Matilda the Musical Christmas Baubles

Clockwise from centre; Matilda, Mr Wormwood, Rudolpho, Mrs Wormwood

In 2016 I had the amazing experience of working with Matilda the Musical to design a set of Christmas Baubles for their Christmas campaign.  I didn’t have the opportunity to shout about it at the time as the baubles were going to be used for a competition, so I couldn’t give too much information away. And, quite frankly, everything was so manic in the run up to Christmas that I just didn’t have the time to dedicate a proper blog post to it.

But, I really wanted to share this project with you as it was so much fun to work on, so I apologise in advance for the out of season Christmas spam!

Anyone that works in this industry will know that brands start working on their Christmas campaigns around summertime, which does basically mean that Christmas lasts for about 6 months in my world.  You would think I would be sick to death of it by the time the big day eventually comes around, but I must admit, I really do love it!

Later this week I have a little Christmas event coming up which I will write another blog post about, but it got me thinking back to this time last year when I first got the request to work on the Matilda the Musical Christmas campaign.

The Acrobat and the Escapologist 

I remember receiving the email and doing a little happy dance! Its not often that you get the chance to work with such an amazing brand, and to design something so theatrical.  It was completely outside my normal design style so it was a great opportunity to really experiment with ideas and play with different materials.

The idea behind the project was that each bauble would represent a different character from the show, so could be inspired by their costumes, their personality and interests, or the role their character plays. I hadn’t seen the show yet, so I got myself a ticket and headed to the theatre for inspiration.

It was A-MAZE-ING! If you haven’t seen it, please do! It’s the kind of musical that appeals to all ages and I’m sure if you are reading this then you probably grew up reading at least one of Roald Dahl’s books!

From left to right; Mrs Phelps, Miss Honey, Bruce Bogtrotter and Miss Trunchbull

I worked closely with AKA, the PR firm behind Matilda the Musical, presenting them with sketch ideas before completing the final bauble set.

“We absolutely loved these baubles, they turned out better than we ever imagined! The creative approach to representing the iconic Matilda characters was fantastic. It was really beneficial to be able to see and feedback on the sketches and work collaboratively on the design.”

Hannah Jelliman, AKA, Matilda the Musical

The show does differ slightly to the book so I've included a few photos from the musical to help you understand the costumes and who the baubles may represent. Can you guess who is who??

Images courtesy of Matilda the Musical