Nutcracker Noir - Immersive Retail Customisation Experience

We partnered with DesignScene to deliver a live customisation experience inside Merry & More Mart at Protein Studios in Shoreditch. The installation formed part of Nutcracker Noir, an immersive theatre production running throughout the festive season, alongside a café space hosted by Utter Waffle.

The Merry & More Mart activation ran as a month-long Christmas pop-up, giving guests an extended opportunity to engage with the experience across the entire holiday period.

Our role was to deliver a fully interactive personalisation station where guests could create bespoke, take-home products in real time.

The Experience

Guests were invited to step into our custom-built design stations and personalise a range of festive products, including:

• Santa sacks

• Christmas stockings

• Ornaments

• Tumblers

• Tote bags and gift bags

Using our bespoke design software, visitors could select from a curated library of artwork, including:

• Utter Waffle, Nutcracker Noir and Merry & More Mart branded illustrations

• Christmas-themed graphics

• Custom text options

Drag-and-Drop Customisation

At the heart of the experience was our interactive drag-and-drop design tool.

Guests could:

• select multiple icons and artworks

• drag and position elements freely on their product

• zoom, scale, and rearrange designs in real time

• fully personalise their items before production

This created a highly intuitive and creative design experience, giving guests full control over their final product.

Live Production

Once a design was completed, items were printed live on-site using dye sublimation technology.

Guests could watch their products being made in real time, turning the production process into part of the experience. Finished items were then handed directly to guests as a personalised souvenir from the Nutcracker Noir experience.

Patch Bar Experience

Alongside the digital station, we also delivered a hands-on patch bar activation.

Guests could choose a tote or gift bag and customise it using a wide range of embroidered patches, including:

• festive icons and Christmas designs

• alphabet letters for initials and names

This was a 1:1 guided experience supported by our on-site team, allowing guests to physically place and compose their design before it was heat-pressed and finished instantly.

The result was a tactile, creative activation that complemented retail purchases made within the Merry & More Mart space.

The Result

The activation blended immersive theatre, interactive retail, and live product personalisation to create a memorable festive experience inside one of Shoreditch’s most unique seasonal installations.

Running over a full month-long festive period, the experience gave thousands of visitors the opportunity to create personalised, high-quality keepsakes - turning a retail visit into a creative, shareable moment tied directly to the Nutcracker Noir world.