Adorned and cherished in a warm home for weeks, come January the 6th the ceremonial Christmas tree finds itself unceremoniously turned out into the cold. In London alone, it is estimated that most of the 976,000 Christmas trees in the capital will be simply thrown away - left in a laneway, shoved in a rubbish bin, dumped on a street corner - its twinkling lights and Alpine scents a distant memory.

For Christmas 2010 Gallery Libby Sellers and the designer Fabien Cappello will offer an alternative after-life for your tree (or for one of London’s many abandoned trees if you don’t have a tree to up-cycle).

The Christmas Tree project - a continuation of Cappello’s graduation work from the Design Products MA at the Royal College of Art in 2009 - will see abandoned and previously loved trees from across the Greater London area being regenerated into handsome stools with the trunk and branches forming the seat and legs respectively.

Gallery Libby Sellers is inviting clients new and old to contact the gallery to schedule a post-Christmas collection of their tree and place their order for a unique and handcrafted Christmas Tree Stool by rising designer Fabien Cappello.

The Christmas Tree Project underscores Cappello’s interest in using regionally sourced materials and manufacturing processes as a form of design cartography. As part of Experimenta 2009 he created an inventory of the skills and knowledge of local manufacturers, makers and craftsmen in Odivelas, a suburban area in Lisbon, which was then mapped onto a set of ceramic vessels to demonstrate that every individual maker is a step in a larger creative process.

The Christmas Tree Project with Gallery Libby Sellers will be a poetic continuation of Cappello’s interests and will offer the collector a chance to own his unique and individualized response to the trees collected.

Collections will be made early in 2011 and only in the Greater London area, though deliveries of trees will be welcomed from anywhere and no purchase of a tree is necessary as Cappello can also use discarded and found Christmas trees for the stools.

Prices will be based on the collection and return address, but start from around £400+ VAT; plus a percentage of profit from the Christmas Tree Project will be donated to the Woodland Trust.

Image Fabien Cappello.