Department 56: Collectors -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 8/28/2002
Last Visited: 5/10/2003
Senior Product Designer Greg Beilke has spent countless hours researching the architecture, the style of clothing and the topography of the ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, cities like Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and the caravan routes that reached into the Far East."Expanding the Little Town of Bethlehem has been a huge undertaking, partly because I want to get every detail as authentic as possible."Since the series was reintroduced, Beilke has been the sole designer of both lighted buildings and accessories for The Holy Land.
For "Rug Merchant's Colonnade"(56.59802) lighted building which was introduced in 2000 Beilke used a nineteenth century painting "The Carpet Merchant" by French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme he discovered at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, as inspiration.Gérôme was a prolific and popular artist of his time who traveled extensively in North Africa and the Middle East."The Carpet Merchant" depicts the Court of the Rug Market in Cairo, which Gérôme visited in 1885.
"After I research a particular structure, I do a rough, dimensional rendering by hand," he said."I conceptualize.And always, I honor the Holy Land, creating as true to reality as possible."
The increasingly meticulous illustrations are translated in to a highly detailed, lighted piece.The carpets hung from the balcony look so real you want to touch them.After spending much time looking for simple Persian rug designs that would be easier for our artisans to hand paint, Beilke told us that he had to draw original patterns for the rugs featured on "The Carpet Merchant's Colonnade."
Beilke adds tiny details for collectors to discover every time they look carefully at the lighted pieces.
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