Media Featuring
Silverstone Design Inc.

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By John Torsiello
info@mainstreetmag.com

Alan Silverstone’s 36-year fascination with Christmas began rather serendipitously during a visit to China as part of a US business delegation trip in 1980 as the thaw between the two countries reached full flow. It was on that fateful trip that the man who ran a nationally acclaimed candy factory in California and was affectionately known as “Uncle Al, The Kiddies’ Pal” saw Chinese workers making bird figurines with wheat straw. An idea was hatched, no pun intended, that Silverstone could do the same in the US and market them as Christmas ornaments.

Silverstone’s candy (which was being sold in such notable retail venues such as Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s Cellar, and J.C. Penny’s) and his somewhat outlandish attire had brought him fame and landed him appearances on the Mike Douglas Show, a popular television daytime talk show of the time, as well as friendships with such luminaries as Groucho Marx. He even attracted the attention of Roald Dahl, the creator of the Willy Wonka and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book. Dahl was fascinated that someone was really like his creation and that, at his request, would become “Head of the Inventing Department of Silverstone’s candy factory.” Silverstone, who is now 75 and living in Millbrook, NY, sold his sweet tooth business and segwayed back into investment banking, hence his invitation to be a part of the delegation to China.

Once he returned from his trip, he envisioned a new career, one that was immersed in the Christmas holiday. He eventually opened his first shop in 1985 called “The Incredible Christmas Store” on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, selling his wheat straw ornaments and just about anything else that had a Christmas theme. It was “Christmas all year ‘round,” he says.

“Strangely enough, our busiest times were July and August when the tourists flocked to the city,” said Silverstone as he sat in his office/studio on a chill autumn morning. “People wanted to take something back as souvenirs, and we sold a lot of cable cars and other ornaments and items with a San Francisco theme.”

Silverstone brought his Incredible Christmas Store across the country to New York City, where he located in Trump Tower in 1992. “We started with a space as small as this room and eventually had half a floor.” When Trump decided he needed the space back, Silverstone moved his business to Rockefeller Center, and his success in selling unique, quality Christmas decorations continued unabated.

Unfortunately, Silverstone’s business, like many others in New York City, tumbled after the events of September 11, 2001, when terrorists brought down the Twin Trade Towers and completely upset the economic and social fabric of the city. Undeterred, Silverstone turned to custom designing Christmas ornaments for a number of notable clients, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, and stunning recreations of the Forbes Collection of Fabergé Eggs, some of the latter worth four or five million dollars apiece.

“Creating the Fabergé ornaments was quite a process and very exciting,” says Silverstone. “Malcolm Forbes had a vast collection of the real Fabergé eggs in New York, and we worked to recreate them as closely as possible into ornaments, which were hand-blown as well as hand-painted and decorated. They came out quite fabulous.”

Silverstone’s glass and porcelain Christmas ornaments, which can cost over $200 (the average glass ornament is around $50), are a labor of love and, really, works of art in and of themselves. He (and his 94-year-old mother-in-law Ilene Glaser, who also has had a hand for a number of years in the design process) spends days, sometimes weeks, fine-tuning designs. They are then shipped out to factories in Europe and Asia, where they are produced and sent back for “tweaking” before a limited run, usually around 288 ornaments per theme, is finished.

Silverstone creates most of his designs on a computer, but also uses good old pen and pencil at times in the process. The end results are ornaments that become keepsakes for their owners, often being shown off on shelves rather than placed on trees where a little hand might pull the fragile works off and have them fall to the floor.

Silverstone, who calls his business Alan B. Silverstone Design, has created ornaments for a number of other notable individuals, such as the performers Siegfried and Roy and the owners of the famous Hearst Castle. He also designs for local businesses, such as those he is working on for Tavern on the Green, Millbrook Winery, and Hillrock Estate Distillery. “I work with about a dozen clients a year. It takes a long time from the design stage to completion and the factories are busy, so we are often working a year in advance in bringing the ornaments to market.”

He’s also had some famous individuals walk into his retail stores when they were open. He tells a story of a woman who came into his San Francisco shop with her decorator, and she wanted an entire tree, ornaments, trimmings, and all, sent to her home. “She had to first determine which home she was going to have it sent to, so she had to consult a list,” Silverstone relates with a smile. “I found out eventually that the woman was Susan Buffett, the wife of Warren Buffett.”

Silverstone, whose wife, Janice, often consults with her husband on designs, works closely with his clients on the creation of ornaments. “Sometimes, they have a certain theme they want portrayed, and sometimes I offer them ideas on what I feel would be a good depiction on the ornament that best represents them. There is some give and take.”

Ironically, Silverstone does not have a Christmas tree in his home. He is of the Jewish faith, which does not celebrate Christmas. He has handled some good-natured barbs over the years from family and friends.

“I tell people that the Jews gave us Christmas. After all, Jesus was born Jewish, and Christmas is the celebration of his birthday. I guess I’ve always been one in the family to buck the norm, so it’s all been good-natured.”

Although he doesn’t celebrate Christmas, Alan Silverstone has nonetheless brought immense joy and beauty to the celebration of the special holiday, making adults and children alike smile with wide-eyed wonder as they hold or view his wonderful ornaments.