A frozen river, a fair set up on the ice, and a door to open every day until Christmas. Alice Pattullo's Frost Fayre is a die-cut advent calendar that folds out to stand on its own: tiers of market stalls, a swing boat ride, a puppet show, a white horse pulling a cart, skaters sliding about in the middle distance and the dome of St Paul's rising behind the rooftops. It is a Thames frost fair — the kind that happened in the years the river froze hard enough to hold a market.
Each numbered door opens onto another small piece of the scene: gingerbread, a toy stall, a souvenir seller, fireworks going off over the bridge. Pattullo works like a printmaker, in flat blocks of cream, red, ochre and lilac, so the whole thing reads as an old screenprint rather than a modern Christmas graphic. Stand it on a mantelpiece and it holds its own as a decoration long after the last door is open.
It measures 305 × 395 mm and arrives flat in a compostable bag with an envelope included, so it can go straight in the post. Art Angels publish work by British illustrators and artists.
Key features
- Die-cut 3D standing advent calendar
- A numbered door to open for each day of Advent
- Illustrated by Alice Pattullo
- 305 × 395 mm
- Supplied flat in a compostable bag
- Envelope included for posting
- Contains no chocolate
- Maximum 5 per customer
Questions
Does it stand up? Yes. It is die-cut and folds out into a free-standing scene rather than hanging flat against a wall.
Can it be posted? Yes. It comes flat in a compostable bag and an envelope is included.
What is the scene? A frost fair on a frozen river, with stalls, rides, a puppet show and skaters out on the ice.
Who is Alice Pattullo? A British illustrator and printmaker whose work draws on folk art, British tradition and screenprint colour.
In the shop now at Wrapped!, 22 Burgate, Canterbury CT1 2HG — it is worth seeing standing up. Also available online.
