Bristol’s Academy award-winning animation studio Aardman has collaborated with city-based innovative events firm Bakehouse and Cabot Circus shopping centre to give Christmas shoppers a grand day out.
The businesses have teamed up to stage to create the immersive ‘Wallace & Gromit: Cracking Christmas Experience’ – a unique festive experience featuring the much-loved duo and one of dozens of events destination marketing organisation Visit Bristiol hope will bring people into the city.
The Friary Building in Quakers Friars has been transformed into a festive experience, where fans can help Wallace save Christmas by getting his latest gadget – the Christmas-O-Matic – up and running in the St. Nick-of-time.
Responsible for binging Wallace’s wacky-holiday engineering to life is Bakehouse, which since its launch in 2011 has developed into a multi award winning theatrical production company specialising in delivering interactive events.
In collaboration with Aardman, the Bakehouse team housed created a cracker of an immersive experience – even down to sticking real Christmas cards from the 1950s and 1960s to the Friary Building’s wall and producing replica paper chains.
Bakehouse’s 18,000 sq ft design studio in Brislington features a costume department, carpentry, metalwork and scenic workshops, photography and tech studio, and a huge store of set, props, costumes and equipment from which it delivers hundreds of events a year.
Cabot Circus will also be cracking open the Christmas spirit with its annual Giving Tree. Located under the iconic glass dome, the Giving Tree is all about spreading festive cheer and giving back.
Visitors can donate gifts to support local charities, including NEXT Link and the The Grand Appeal, raising funds for the Bristol Children’s Hospital.
Sarah Tinsley, director of marketing & placemaking at retail property giant Hammerson, co-owner of Cabot Circus, said: “Cultural partnerships are just one of the exciting ways we are engaging our customers and creating new reasons to visit beyond shopping.
“Last year, our colourful mural with Aardman really captured visitor’s imaginations, so we are excited to be collaborating with them once again for a festive activation which not only champions local artists but also seeks to connect the community at the most magical time of the year.”
The Wallace and Gromit: Cracking Christmas Experience is being staged just before the pair take to the screens again in their latest film Vengeance Most Fowl, which will be screened on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day.
