Unwrapping the Future: A Sparkling Seasonal Spin for 2025

As the year winds down and festive lights brighten our homes, Christmas and New Year offer rich creative inspiration. The season has always been a time of imaginative design, from decorations to storytelling traditions, and 2025 was a standout year for global innovation. This article blends festive history, fun facts, and groundbreaking milestones in

design worldwide.

Milestones in Design & Innovation 2025 Highlights

Sports

Back in March, Manchester United unveiled plans for a bold new 100,000-seat stadium, designed by Foster & Partners with Populous. Integrating rainwater harvesting, on-site solar energy and a vast public plaza, the proposal reimagines Old Trafford, blending sustainability, fan experience and urban public space at one of the world’s most iconic sports brands.

Fitness & Wellness

This year, modern bathing clubs and recovery spaces stepped into the mainstream, with carefully designed environments built around sauna, cold plunge and social connection. These spaces focus as much on atmosphere, materiality and calm as they do on physical recovery, signalling a shift towards wellness design that supports both body and nervous system.

Environmental Solutions

This year saw ambitious urban nature projects move from concept to reality, with cities designing joined-up 'green and blue corridors' that connect parks, waterways and communities. These initiatives treat biodiversity, wellbeing and active travel as a single system, using design to weave nature though our busy, compact cities.

Construction

In June, Qatar began construction on the world’s largest 3D-printed building programme, using some of the biggest construction printers ever used to create new public schools. The project showcases how digital construction can reduce waste, speed up delivery and unlock architectural forms that are difficult or impossible to achieve using traditional methods.

Wildlife Projects

December saw the completion of the Greenland Wildlife Overpass in Colorado, a vast landscaped structure spanning a six-lane highway to safely reconnect animal migration routes. Designed using ecological and behavioural insight, it’s a powerful example of infrastructure built for coexistence, where engineering and landscape design work together to put wildlife first.

Groundbreaking Innovation & Design

• MoMA’s Pirouette: Turning Points in Design -

  A major exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York showcased how iconic design objects, from everyday classics to cultural staples, have shaped society.

  
  

• Drone Art World Record - 

  A massive drone display in Chongqing set a new Guinness World Record with over 11,700 drones forming aerial imagery, a creative fusion of technology, art and public spectacle.

• Figure 03 (A Household Robot) -

  The Figure 03 is a humanoid robot by Figure AI designed for domestic and economic tasks, currently requiring human assistance for some chores, but is being trained via mass data collection with plans for broader home deployment next year.

Festive Fun

Top 10 Design & Innovation Questions That Might Be On Your Christmas Quiz.

1. What year was the first commercial Christmas card designed?

Answer: 1843

2. Who invented the first electric Christmas tree lights?

Answer: Edward H. Johnson (an associate of Thomas Edison)

3. Which country is credited with inventing glass Christmas baubles?

Answer: Germany (Lauscha)

4. Which global brand helped cement Santa’s modern visual design?

Answer: Coca-Cola (1930s advertising campaigns)

5. Different one

6. Which city broke the world record for the largest drone art display in 2025?

Answer: Chongqing, China

7. What 19th-century innovation inspired the “crack” of the Christmas cracker?

Answer: The sound of a burning log in a fireplace inspired Tom Smith.

8. What design-driven holiday tradition is released annually by GCHQ?

Answer: The GCHQ Christmas Puzzle (design-led logic challenges)

9. Which design festival celebrated over 135,000 visitors in 2025?

Answer: Dubai Design Week

10. What trend shaped Christmas confectionery design in 2025?

Answer: “Swicy” flavours, mixing sweet and spicy in festive treats.

2025 showed how deeply creativity shapes our world, from cultural festivities to technological leaps. As we move into a new year, design continues to bridge tradition and innovation, giving us both nostalgia and new possibilities to celebrate.

Have a wonderful Festive Holiday and a Happy New Year from all of us to you.