Hanging Your Own Little Piece of Leigh This Christmas

December 11, 2017 by x

Hanging Your Own Little Piece of Leigh This Christmas

When you think of a Christmas bauble, a plastic sphere coated in thick glitter, may quite likely be the most logical assessment. Naturally, those with a higher regard to festive decor may imagine something more imaginative; a bauble adorned in peacock, partridge or pheasant feathers, perhaps. Or, maybe, something a little more shiny packaged in a perfectly tied duck egg blue box. If your tastes fit into this latter category, I will let you determine whether you sit on the right (or wrong) side of the Tiffany-Fortnum blue debate. Needless to say, or perhaps ask, would you ever think of a hand painted bauble, where each decoration is carefully and intricately painted from the inside, using small painting hooks which are lowered into the inside of the hand blown glass sphere, from which the interior surface is lovingly painted, in reverse, to paint a true work of art? No, me neither. But that’s exactly what Tom Martin London does, and this Winter, for the first time, Leigh on Sea has been their inspiration.

A small business, grown by Tom from the kitchen table on our coastal shores, Tom Martin London has grown organically through the purveyance of beautifully hand painted decorations with a reputation to match. Having started as a project during School, after the first few months the business became a Partner on Notonthehighstreet before leaving at the beginning of 2016 to pursue an autonomous future. Yet, this act of autonomy saw the business create a celebration bauble for the Queens Patrons Lunch in June 2016 before opening its first pop-up shop on Chelsea’s fashionable Kings Road last Christmas.

Bucking the trend seems to be at the core of the design philosophy at Tom Martin London. Gone are the canvas stretched frames and wooden artist easels and bring in the glass shards and razor sharp eyes of artists who intricately paint with dancing hand gestures beautiful works of miniature art. Scraps of limp canvas cloth, artistically draped over a paint splattered stool has no place in this studio. Instead, glass lay scattered over the floor, where determination to craft art has never been so pressured. Okay, reality check. There is no glass on the floor. Obligatory supplement or the health and safety officer will slip his way down the chimney of the Tom Martin London studio in a desperate attempt to surprise in a mist of festive confusion.

This Winter, for the first time, Tom Martin London has found inspiration from the beaches on the Leigh coast, and transformed this familiar scene into a beautiful work of hand painted hanging art. Titled, ‘For Those Who Deliver Christmas’, the design, which comes beautifully packaged in a white gift box tied with a purple ribbon, features reindeers on the beach in Leigh. In traditional stories of Christmas, the reindeers pull the sleigh which delivers Christmas, yet in reality, it’s our beloved family members who are the workers; the mums, the dads, the grandparents, the aunts and uncles, who cook the dinner and go to great lengths to surprise and celebrate the festive joys of Christmas. In this work of art, the reindeers are a nod of thanks, to those who deliver Christmas.

In true ‘bucking the trend’ style, Tom Martin London has swopped the traditional chocolate box English village, for our very own coastal getaway this Winter.

Tom Martin London has come home for Christmas. To find out more about this hand painted decoration, please click here.

You can follow Tom on Facebook or on Instagram.

See his website here.