The floor creaked as Johann Wanner (83) walked past his shop at Spalenberg 14 in Basel. He has been selling Christmas decorations here for over 50 years, and every year he is asked about trends. The businessman, who started out as an antiques dealer and carpet dealer, says “Sweet Christmas” is the main theme now.
Sweet Christmas – in this case, it means tree decorations in the form of cakes and other sweets in red, pink and white. Her shop is full of sparkling little things. Here you can buy small birds, trumpets, small apples, little pigs, jewelry in the shape of Star Wars character Darth Vader or face masks suitable for the corona virus. “They’re popular with doctors,” says Wanner.
How he keeps track of things here is a mystery. Maybe he lost it a long time ago or he prefers to leave it to one of his twelve employees. He is the face of this success story. He loved to pose in front of the window in his Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit. The plate read “X-Mas” for demonstration purposes. Sometimes just the name.
Straw jewelry is not her thing.
When Wanner started his business in the 70s, he actually brought back a completely outdated style. The time was characterized by the simple furniture trends of the sixties, he says. In addition to the teak furniture, the Swiss house had red apples, wax candles, and a straw-adorned tree. Then it came, says Wanner, and reissued her childhood Victorian-inspired jewellery. “Kitsch is a positive thing for me,” says Wanner. “I made Christmas cheesy again.”
This resonated. At the best of times, her jewelry was hung on trees in the Vatican, the White House, and the mansions of Hollywood stars. It is said that Prince Albert of Monaco and Windsors were – or still are – among their clients. Due to discretion, Wanner does not want to give any names.
During the Cold War, he traveled to the former GDR and sought out private individuals and small manufacturers who would produce jaw-dropping jewelry for him. Some of the decades-old pieces from that time are still on display. For example, small birds with tail feathers made of fine glass silk. Nylon is used for newer models that feel relatively hairy.
There is something mysterious about his favorite ball.
In the early days of his job, Wanner took advantage of the fact that Switzerland, unlike many other countries, did not impose an import ban on Eastern Bloc countries. She says she was still in contact with the officer accompanying her at the time.
It’s eleven in the morning and the shop is overflowing with women filling small baskets with jewellery. Wanner says he always tries to get a sense of what customers choose. “The type of jewelry someone buys says a lot about them.”
The boss’s favorite ball is simple, big, black and 14 francs. There is something mysterious about it and it suits the man who dresses like a conductor and remembers the past better than the recent. There’s a Frank Sinatra song playing in the store right now. Here, in Basel’s old town, time seems to have stood still. This is worthy of a festival that feeds on unchanging traditions. This is worthy of Christmas.