Woolworths is honoured to be the recipient of two international accolades at the US based SHOP! Awards 2020. The retailers “Christmas Gifting Window of 2019” was recognised in the Sustainability and Window Display categories at the SHOP! Design Element Awards.

The award winning work was inspired by indigenous South African trees and used origami techniques to fold paper leaves out of recycled and recyclable paper. These leaves were used to create unique hand-crafted “Christmas” trees for 10 window displays in stores across the country. Part of the “Christmas trees” were live tree seeds, housed in specially designed seed pods, these leaves and seedpods were made in close collaboration with a local Non-Government Organisation (NGO). The trees were lit-up from inside to give them an attractive glow. The inclusion of movement, ensured that the trees moved up and down slowly, giving an impression of each tree “growing” in front of the customers’ eyes.

“It is such an honour to receive these awards; this is a significant acknowledgment for the hard work of our teams. In line with our Good Business Journey, we wanted to create a beautiful backdrop to display our Christmas gifting offering, while reinforcing our brand’s vision for a #zerohunger future, which involves a long-term commitment to help alleviate hunger in South Africa. The 20 000 live tree seeds were donated to educational projects where the seeds were geminated and planted to aid the sustainable food production in under resources communities.” explains Christan Boshoff, Woolworths Visual Merchandising creative director.

Shop! Awards celebrate excellence in design, originality in use of space and materials, and quality of concept execution. Over 450 entries were judged by international industry leaders.