Chas Clarkson Christmas & Illumination

What Chas Clarkson Christmas & Illumination does

Chas Clarkson Christmas & Illumination is a privately held, family-owned Australian business that designs, supplies, manufactures, and installs commercial Christmas decorations, illumination, and experiential displays. Founded in 1896 with origins in the UK and now led by CEO Tim Clarkson as a four-generation family enterprise, the company is headquartered in Botany, NSW and operates across Australia and New Zealand from storage facilities in Sydney (Condell Park), Melbourne (Derrimut), and Brisbane (Murarrie). The company serves four primary customer segments: shopping centre operators (Scentre Group/Westfield across 40 centres, QIC, Lendlease across 10 centres, Brookfield Properties, Charter Hall, Melbourne Central, Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, Stride Property in New Zealand), local government and city councils (City of Sydney, City of Melbourne, Brisbane City Council), commercial property and corporate tenants, and transport/aviation clients (Sydney Airport). The customer base is heavily weighted toward enterprise B2B engagements, with notable reference projects including the QVB Swarovski Tree featuring 82,000+ crystals and 65,000 LED lights.

The product and technology portfolio spans commercial-grade Christmas trees (including the 'George' giant tree line), LED illumination and programmed light shows, baubles, wreaths, finials, suspended void-display items, props and nativity scenes, and packaged solutions. The company has developed proprietary engineering solutions such as a self-supporting tree frame installed entirely from the ground floor via overhead winch with internal ladder maintenance access, and integration of AR (Instagram filter Santa Experience) and VR (HD headset sleigh experience) into installations. The service offering is organized around a three-tier design framework: Ambient (foundational festive design), Immersive (captivating journey experiences), and Experiential (sensory engagement activations), backed by six in-house departments covering Account Management, Project, Design Studio, Production Workshop, Finance & HR, and Supply Chain & Logistics.

The business model combines project-based creative services (end-to-end design, prototyping, manufacturing, installation, dismantle, and year-round storage for shopping centre and council clients), a multi-year decoration hire/rental program (enabling clients to amortize costs over multiple seasons), a managed storage service, and an e-commerce storefront for direct product sales with a minimum order of AUD $3,000. The go-to-market is enterprise field sales driven by account management teams and reinforced by a portfolio-and-case-study marketing approach plus Sydney Design Awards recognition (Silver in 2017 and 2019). The company has expanded its addressable footprint beyond Christmas into Easter, Lunar New Year, Vivid Sydney, and World Pride activations, while leveraging partnerships with Swarovski, Aboriginal artists via Boomalli Co-operative, and creative agencies such as Fabric. The company won a Sydney Design Award Silver in 2017 for the Westfield program and again in 2019 for the QIC 'A Summer Christmas of Wonderment' program.

Name

Chas Clarkson Christmas & Illumination

Legal name

Chas Clarkson

Website

https://chasclarkson.com.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

1896

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Chas Clarkson designs, manufactures, installs, and stores commercial Christmas decorations and experiential displays for Australian and New Zealand shopping centre operators, city councils, commercial property owners, and aviation clients, offering end-to-end project services, hire, and an online shop as a 130-year family business.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Christmas Decorations & Installation Services

NAICS

All Other Miscellaneous Retailers (45999)

akta.pro primary industry

Seasonal/Holiday Outdoor Lighting Installation & Takedown (HSAIAHAN)

Keywords

• Commercial Christmas decorations
• Festive lighting installations
• Experiential retail displays
• Santa experience design
• Shopping centre theming

Headquarters

HQ city

Botany

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Project-Based Creative Services: End-to-end Christmas decoration programs including design, prototyping, manufacturing, installation, dismantle, and storage. Projects range from single-centre installations to national multi-site rollouts for shopping centre groups.
2. Product Sales (Online Shop): Direct sales of Christmas trees, illumination products, decorations, suspended items, and packaged solutions through e-commerce storefront. Minimum order value of $3,000 for online purchases. Products include commercial-grade items suitable for public spaces.
3. Decoration Hire/Rental: Rental model for decorations allowing clients to amortize costs over multiple years. Hire includes length of time, location, and delivery requirements.
4. Storage Services: Year-round storage and out-of-season maintenance services for client decorations between installation periods.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Chas Clarkson designs, manufactures, installs, dismantles and stores commercial-grade Christmas decorations, illumination systems and immersive experiential displays for shopping centres, councils and corporate clients across Australia and New Zealand. The offering is delivered as end-to-end turn-key projects (design, prototyping, manufacturing, installation, storage) complemented by a hire/rental model and a direct online shop for commercial-grade products with a minimum $3,000 order.

Product overview

Chas Clarkson is a Christmas and experiential decoration company offering a comprehensive portfolio of physical products and end-to-end services. Their product portfolio includes commercial-grade Christmas trees (featuring the 'George' giant tree line), illumination and LED lighting solutions, Christmas decorations (baubles, wreaths, finials), suspended and void display items, props, nativity scenes, and packaged complete decoration solutions. They also offer Santa Experiences (immersive themed Santa sets), Immersive Arches (LED illuminated bauble arch kits), and hire services. Their service offerings are organized around a three-tier design framework: Ambient (foundational festive design), Immersive (captivating journey experiences), and Experiential (sensory engagement activations). Services include design development, prototyping, manufacturing, installation, in-season maintenance, dismantle, and year-round storage. The company operates primarily for retail shopping centres, commercial properties, and public spaces across Australia and New Zealand.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 17% increase in Santa photography sales (Year 1) across Lendlease centres
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• Fabric (Creative Agency)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Collaborative partnership with Fabric creative agency for World Pride 2023 activation at Queen Victoria Building. Chas Clarkson and Fabric collaborated on a stunning suspended dynamic lighting installation under the QVB dome featuring larger-than-life LGBTQIA+ icons.
• Jeff McCann (Artist)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Collaboration with local queer artist Jeff McCann for Pacific Square Maroubra Sweet Taste of Pride installation inspired by Maroubra's coastal setting and Pride flag colors.
• Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operativeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Collaboration with Aboriginal artists Jude Jarrett and Jeffrey Samuels from Boomalli for QVB First Nations Christmas tree featuring hand-painted flannel flower decorations.
• Dr Bronwyn Bancroft (Artist)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnership with Dr Bronwyn Bancroft for QVB walkthrough artscape homages to Mother Nature and Aboriginal peoples' relationship with the natural world.
• David Stewart Nature Sound / Bowerbird CollectiveminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Collaboration for ambient audio 'Songs of Disappearance' featuring birdcalls of threatened species for QVB First Nations artscape.
• Bic Tieu (Artist)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Collaboration with artist Bic Tieu for 1 Denison Street Christmas decorations, bringing artistic feel to the building foyer.
• Poho FlowersminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Partnership with florist Poho Flowers for 1 Denison Street collaborative decoration project.
• SwarovskiflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015Established partnership for QVB Christmas tree featuring 82,000+ Swarovski crystals. Crystal elements integrated into iconic tree design creating national Christmas landmark.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• MKG: New York-based experiential agency producing immersive brand experiences and seasonal installations for enterprise clients. Comparable in producing high-end, design-led seasonal experiences for retail and commercial properties, but with a wider category scope beyond Christmas.
• Jack Morton Worldwide: Global brand experience agency delivering large-scale seasonal and festive activations for major brands and venues. Competes for the same experiential Christmas/seasonal budgets as Chas Clarkson at the top end, though as part of a much broader experiential marketing portfolio.
• George P. Johnson Experience Marketing: Global experiential marketing agency with deep retail and property client work, including large-scale seasonal installations. Adjacent competitor for shopping centre and commercial property seasonal budgets; broader portfolio but overlapping capability set.
• Sparks: Global brand experience agency producing immersive retail, holiday and pop-up experiences for major brands. Comparable on creative-led experiential delivery for commercial properties, though serves a much broader brief beyond festive decoration.

Others

• Balsam Hill: Premium Christmas tree and holiday décor brand, primarily direct-to-consumer. Not a direct competitor, but a useful adjacent benchmark on premium holiday décor pricing, e-commerce merchandising and brand positioning in the Christmas category.

Direct peers

• The Christmas Decorators: Australian and New Zealand-based Christmas decoration design, hire and installation service for commercial and residential customers. Operates in the same AU/NZ geography with a comparable hire/install service model, though typically at smaller scale than Chas Clarkson's flagship shopping centre work.
• Christmas Designers Inc: US commercial Christmas decoration supplier and installer serving shopping centres, municipalities and commercial properties. Directly comparable product mix (trees, lighting, suspended décor) and project-based delivery model.
• Christmas Décor by Franchise Brands: Largest US-based franchise network specialising in commercial Christmas light and decoration installation for property owners and businesses. Closest comparable to Chas Clarkson's B2B commercial decoration, install, dismantle and storage model, albeit operating via a franchise structure rather than direct enterprise sales.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks2 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chas Clarkson Christmas & Illumination