Museum of the Home’s annual Winter Festival kicks off in style from Wednesday 15th November, bringing a wealth of light, colour and festive cheer across their world-famous period rooms and accompanying events, workshops and installations throughout the season.
With lavish winter feasts laid out in holly bedecked halls, and Hannukah celebrations in an East End drawing room, the Museum’s iconic Rooms Through Time will be reimagined to reflect an array of winter festivities from a range of cultures over the centuries. From restrained wintry elegance in the Georgian rooms, via vibrant Victoriana to the pattern-rich and instantly impactful sights and sounds of a Caribbean Christmas in the 1970s room, the Museum’s Winter Festival will provide a festive treat for the senses. Rooms situated in the Museum’s Branson Coates Wing; a parlour in 1870, a drawing room in 1915, a flat in 1937, a front room in 1976 and a loft-style apartment in 1998, will undergo a planned closure for the first part of 2024 as part of the Museum’s exciting Real Rooms project that will see these rooms re-interpreted.
The festival will open with the unveiling of Chila Burman’s specially commissioned light installations of Shi Ji (Lord Shiva) on the Museum’s Green Roof – opposite Hoxton Station. Shi Ji is one of the foremost deities in the Hindu pantheon, the destroyer and the protector of creation. From Diwali in November through to Lunar New Year in February, the Museum will host events to mark many cultural winter festivals and celebrations. Events to enjoy with the whole family include a Diwali Family Day with make-and-take activities full of light and colour, as well as a Hanukkah Family Celebration Day in December. Also in December, there will be a Christmas Wreath Making workshop, and a chance to make the most of the long winter nights at the Museum’s Winter Gathering, an after-hours, behind-the-scenes look at the Winter Rooms Through Time with Museum of the Home’s curators. The Winter Gathering will be accompanied by seasonal music, crafting and mulled wine.
The Museum shop, widely considered one of the best and most original in London, will continue to offer shoppers locally sourced, ethically-minded ranges that celebrate the uniqueness of their homes. With ranges encompassing everything from Kitschmas to Forest Folk Feast, there is something for everyone. For the more traditional gift-giver, Museum of the Home are launching a set of 12 vintage Christmas cards reproduced from images from the Museum’s archives, an all new range for 2023.
Museum of the Home’s Winter Yard Sale returns during the Winter Festival on Sunday 26th November. This is a brilliant opportunity to bag some bargains and one-off pieces from leading designers and makers including Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler, Angela Flanders, Lucinda Chambers, Allday Goods and Ally Capellino among many others. The Winter Yard Sale is in aid of the Museum’s Campaign for Change. Over the next five years the Museum’s Campaign for Change: Food Equality will support Londoners of all ages to access good food at home and reduce food insecurity. Museum of the Home intends to raise £50,000 for the campaign, with the Yard Sale and accompanying online auction bringing together the worlds of interiors, fashion and art. The Museum’s Food Equality display is running until December and will close in January with the closure of the Branson Coates wing.
