John Lewis Kids Store Christmas Candy Window Display 2020

John Lewis’s kids store brief for Christmas 2020 called for a window installation that would feel genuinely joyful to a child looking in from the street — an oversized candy world of canes, lollipops, and bells that turned the window bay into something closer to a festive illustration than a conventional retail display.

The full project, from brief confirmation through to delivery, had to be completed within approximately 15 days. That timeline ruled out FRP material — the material most commonly specified for complex sculptural props at this scale — and required a production method capable of moving from mould to finished, painted prop in a fraction of the usual lead time.

The 15-day production window required every stage to run in tight sequence with no margin for rework. Production planning was confirmed at brief sign-off, with mould production, material procurement, and paint colour mixing all initiated in parallel on day one.

• Wooden moulds for the full candy and bell range were completed first.
• Acrylic cutting & Heat Thermoforming processing
• Spray Paint finishing — base coat and glitter application
• All props were 100% inspected, packed into individual honeycomb carton units

Most significantly, the whole VM project was completed and delivered within the 15-day lead time — a timeline that required a complete rethink of the material and production approach from the brief stage onward. That problem-solving response, from material selection through to packing, earned strong positive feedback from the John Lewis team and established the foundation for ongoing project collaboration.