£12.00
The Art of Giving by Constanza Gaggero
Christmas is a word that invokes a myriad of meanings across different faiths, cultures and age groups, from formalised family dancing around the tree in Finland, to a surprisingly traditional trip to KFC for ‘Christmas Chicken’ dinner in Japan. Despite being celebrated differently, it is a fairly universal holiday.
The level of consumption all of these global traditions incur is overwhelming, to person and planet. The average Christmas spend in the UK is £26 billion and as many as six million Christmas trees, enough to stretch end to end from London to the North Pole and back, will be incinerated or dumped into landfill sites in Britain once the festive season is over. If we want to continue enjoying Christmas, something’s gotta give. In the words of the poster’s wonderful designer “I love giving presents and decorating, it is that moment of making something together that feels so good. I can’t think of a better moment to re-use old stuff to make it into something new: old cards into bunting, unwanted toys into tree decorations, old magazines as wrapping paper. We need little to keep that merry spirit alive – It’s just a matter of how you spend your time.”
This weeks poster celebrates the art of giving that isn’t always underpinned by a price tag. More than anything, Christmas is that remarkable time when kindness and generosity is at the forefront and good-will is tangible, and more important than spending money on each other is the opportunity to spend time with each other. Here are some ideas to get you started.
From everyone at DTGT, we wish you an extremely Merry Christmas.
