Christmas Present

The inspiration for this year's Christmas window started, as it has for the last few years, with our December charity.  This year it is CANFAR (The Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research).  CANFAR is Canada's only independent charitable foundation dedicated to eliminating AIDS through research.  By funding promising HIV and AIDS research and promoting prevention through educational campaigns, CANFAR is working to end AIDS globally.  (During the month of December 5% of profits from every sale will be donated to CANFAR).
So the inspiration started with CANFAR and thoughts turned to the eighties and one of the brightest creative talents of the era, Kieth Haring.  He grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to New York City in 1978.  He had a brief but brilliant career in New York from 1980 until his death in 1990 at the age of 31.  The Madonna and Child were taken from the cover art he did for the "A Very Special Christmas" series of albums.   In the window, we have Pennsylvania represented with a variety of the iconic advent symbol, the Moravian star.  The lit star came from the Moravian Bookshop in Bethlehem, PA.  It is the oldest bookshop in the world (true) founded in 1745, and I have great memories of working  there during high school in the eighties.   I have always loved the image of the Moravian star and if you visit Bethlehem at Christmastime, you will see them in the doorways and windows of many homes particularly in the historic downtown area.
In keeping with the spirit of the eighties we have brought in an assortment of vintage "Interview" magazines from the decade.  Andy Warhol was doing all the cover art during this period and the covers are fantastic.  We invite you to check them out for a good trip down memory lane next time you are in the shop.  The Madonna issue is from December 1985.