RETAIL WINDOW DESIGN

Ron Ruelle was hired to do a Christmas window display for Weekends, a casual clothing store in downtown Boulder. The storefront is on the Pearl Street Mall (just to the left in the photo), but the windows are on Broadway, meaning thousands of people walk or drive past the store every day. Each window is over ten feet tall and ten feet wide. Character design began in September, which really strained his long-held stance against getting into the Christmas spirit too early.

The characters in each window were "animated". They were drawn and painted on large sheets of Gatorfoam, then cut out and mounted on contraptions that allowed various parts to move, creating a very dynamic and whimsical display. The first window featured a dancing Nutcracker whose arms, legs and mouth move up and down, and a Sugar Plum Fairy whose legs twirl. The Nutcracker stands almost eight feet tall up to his hat.

The second window featured a Christmas tree that sways side to side. Each layer of the tree is mounted separately and swings freely, and the ornaments are attached to springs, so there is a lot of random movement. The ornaments are painted gold and give off reflections as they bob around. The tree is over eight feet tall. As you can see, kids love it!

The third window features a snowman whose body "rolls" downhill, and his head goes along for the ride. His head remains upright the whole time. The snowman's body is four feet in diameter.

The fourth window features a Christmas mouse riding the swinging pendulum of a large clock. This is probably my favorite part of the whole display. The pendulum is about three feet wide.

Aria was a fantastic gift shop in downtown Boulder. Ron had the opportunity to design several window displays for them over the years. The panels in this one hung at different angles so they were visible as people approached from different directions. Actual merchandise from the store was attached to each one as if the character were holding it. (or in some cases, dropping it.)