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Home > Featured Stories > Engaging Society > August 2008 > Presidential DecorationPresidential Decoration
A team of designers at NC State created a patriotic-themed Christmas ornament now hanging on a tree in the White House.
By David Hunt, News Services
You can’t deny they really go all out to celebrate Christmas at the White House. What other residence sports 232 wreaths, 412 poinsettias, 780 feet of garland and an antique sleigh carrying a patriotic Santa and bags of red, white and blue packages for all the good little civil servants in the capital?
And where else do they manage a Christmas card list with more than 1 million names while downing 22,000 holiday cookies and 700 gallons of eggnog?
With all the festivities going on at the White House, it's no surprise that Carolinians are right in the middle of the action. This year's Christmas tree, an 18-1/2 foot tall Fraser fir, comes from Jessie Davis and Russell Estes of River Ridge Tree Farms in Crumpler, N.C. And one of the 369 patriotic-themed ornaments hanging on the stately pine was created right here at NC State, by professor Charles Joyner and graduate student Precious Lovell in the College of Design.
Joyner was recruited to design the ornament by North Carolina Representative Brad Miller of Wake County, who represents the state's 13th Congressional District. Joyner, a professor of Art + Design, teamed up with Lovell, a former New York clothing designer who is pursuing a master's degree in fibers and surface design.
The result was a red, white and blue ornament with a quilted cotton skin and herringbone stitch, featuring a classic Christmas star motif. Joyner and Lovell visited the White House on Tuesday for an event celebrating the public display of the tree in the Blue Room.
The Christmas tree growers aren't strangers to NC State, either. They work with the university's Cooperative Extension Service to scout for pests on their tree farm.
