The man behind the spectacular Christmas decorations adorning all Hongkong Land's Central properties this year has one long-standing festive customer even Santa Claus would list high on his resume.
Since 1997, Jim Marvin has created the Christmas special design effects for the president of the United States at the White House. Before heading off to Washington, though, he was in Hong Kong to apply the final touches to what he promises is his most stunning display yet.
'This is my sixth year creating designs for the Central venues,' Mr Marvin says. 'For the first time, we're putting unique Christmas effects not just in selected areas, but throughout the public spaces. The theme this year is 'elegance meets nature', and we've even created new colours and shades of green especially for the designs.
'We source materials and elements literally from around the world. First, we create a whole range of prototypes and then I present several themes to Hongkong Land around March. Once we've decided on the overall creative direction, we work on refining it, customising it and perfecting it for the definitive designs. From developing the prototypes to setting up the final installation, it takes almost a year.'
Mr Marvin's decorations have been customised for Alexandra House, Exchange Square, Chater House, Jardine House and Prince's Building. The highlight, however, is an entirely new Christmas tree design for the fountain in The Landmark Atrium, conceived as a fashion statement.
'The fashion houses here always love the more fashion-orientated look as opposed to the classical or traditional themes,' Mr Marvin says. 'We've made unique designs scaled to each building and location so that beautiful things and special effects catch your eye wherever you go. Some of the large pieces in the atrium have a burst of colour in the stylised form of a flower. We've created special medallion effects for the core designs this year. We genuinely look at our designs as art pieces as much as decorations.'