Philips lights up Fifth Avenue’s Saks with new effects

Decked in giant snowflakes

NEW YORK - This holiday season, shoppers and visitors on Fifth Avenue could marvel at an innovative light display in front of the well-known Saks store. Philips Electronics created 50 giant snowflakes lit by light-emitting dioded (LEDs) and presented a lightshow backdrop to the music of ‘Carol of the Bells.’

The snowflake show was presented for two minutes every half hour after dusk. The Saks’ display was inspired by Wilson Bentley, the first photographer to capture a single snowflake and who as a result demonstrated that no two snowflakes are alike.

The mega application of LEDs for commercial displays will be seen the next three holiday seasons as well at Saks’ Fifth Avenue location. The snowflakes twinkle on the entire storefront above the holiday window display.

The 2004 display consisted of fourteen 30-foot snowflakes, and 36 eight-foot snowflakes, made with 72,000 Philips LEDs. Philips also created 4,500 custom and hand-painted, chrome-tipped Brilliant Crystal Halogena bulbs for the Saks’ window display.

Dutch multinational Royal Philips is the world’s leading lighting company and illuminates many of the globe's pre-eminent landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House and the Sphinx in Egypt.