TREE TRIMMING WITH: Christopher Radko; The Czar Of Christmas Present (Published 1997) (2024)

MOVE over Martha Stewart. Christopher Radko is about to lap you.

His 12-year-old cottage-industry Christmas ornament business has become a mini-conglomerate, with rhinestone needlepoint pillows, battery-operated snow globes (shaking not required), topiaries (as in a partridge in a pear tree, right) place mats, coasters, decoupage trays, wrapping paper and ties, and coming next year, Limoges boxes and Christmas dinnerware, all bearing Radko designs. Can sheets be far behind?

No, no, Mr. Radko said on Sunday from his Washington hotel room, put out by the comparison. ''I'm the Ralph Lauren of Christmas.''

Or perhaps the Christo? Mr. Radko was in town for the Kennedy Center Honors performance that night, the proud possessor of a coveted $850 ticket, because he had wrapped the center in a mile of red ribbon. His publicity agent's mother, who works for the Kennedy Center, introduced him to ''the right people.''

''I wanted you to be able to see the Kennedy Center from 50 miles away,'' Mr. Radko said, and apparently you can. The pilot of the shuttle on which the designer flew to Washington from New York last week announced their arrival by pointing out the gift-wrapped building, a beacon for incoming planes.

The Kennedy Center beacon was Mr. Radko's $200,000 gift, the mantel decorations at the White House a $50,000 gift. His latest contribution to the beautification of Washington is about $35,000 worth of Christmas decorations for the Vice President's residence. Decorating famous places for free is much more fun than appearing in television commercials promoting your Christmas ornaments. And much more successful. People recognize Mr. Radko, who is 37, on the street and ask for his autograph.

Money is no object, he said. He's got more than he knows what to do with. ''I consider it more of an honor to be asked,'' he said.

The decorations are not personal gifts to the Vice President and his family. ''The deal is, the decorations remain with the residence,'' Mr. Radko said. ''The Gores can't pack them up and take them home.''

Not that they ever intended to. They have their own packed away in Tennessee. But Tipper Gore, who doesn't want her successor to come into an empty house, has been collecting furniture, paintings and accessories for it since she moved in. The holiday decorations are part of the plan. And they are perfect for the Queen Anne-style Victorian house, built in 1894, where there can never be too many Christmas ornaments. ''My work is about the Gilded Age,'' Mr. Radko said. ''Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.''

But without exactly saying so, the Gores and Philip Dufour, the residence manager, applied the brakes whenever Mr. Radko got too exuberant. ''I kept it pretty toned-down,'' Mr. Radko said. ''We had expert guidance drawing the line from Philip.'' So, for example, those needlepoint pillows with rhinestones are rhinestoneless at the Gores.

Mrs. Gore was enchanted with the decorations: the hand-made glass ornaments, the specially dyed silk ribbons, the topiaries and kissing balls, the pheasant feathers and dried fruits that engage every nook and cranny of the downstairs.

''He's creating a box of Christmas treasures for the Vice President's attic,'' said Mrs. Gore, who seemed as excited as a young girl by the splendor of the residence decorated to the nines.

What the 13 1/2-foot Christmas fir needs, Mrs. Gore said, is a village scene that she remembers vividly from her childhood, and on Monday she and Mr. Radko knelt in front of the tree as she drew air pictures for him from memory. ''I'm encouraging him to come back next year,'' she added. ''We need a village.''

Urging won't be necessary.

Rubbing shoulders with the Washington elite, Wall Street power brokers and Hollywood stars who collect his ornaments is heady stuff for a former mail-room clerk at a talent agency, which is as close as Mr. Radko ever got to being an actor, his first-choice career.

It took one second for his life to change: 12 years ago, in Scarsdale, N.Y., his family's 14-foot Christmas tree crashed to the ground, taking 75 years of ornaments with it. Searching for replacements for the old mouth-blown glass ornaments, he realized they were difficult to find.

Pretty soon, Mr. Radko was in business. The first year, he sold $25,000 worth of ornaments; this year, his company has sold $50 million. Many of the ornaments are made in Europe by the descendants of the original craftsmen.

The average retail price of the ornaments is $36, with some available for $12 and some for $150 to $200. ''Anyone can afford $12,'' Mr. Radko said. ''That's a trip to a movie and a box of popcorn.'' They are sold at places like Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy's, as well as smaller specialty stores, and ornaments that are no longer made by the company bring in as much as $1,500 in the collectibles market (the same route as retired Beanie Babies). This year, his company will sell more than two million ornaments.

''A drop in the bucket,'' he said. ''There are 50 million trees a year, so that means I've reached only four percent of the trees. I've got another 96 percent to go.''

The merchandising of Christopher Radko has been brilliant. There are 26,000 members of the Christopher Radko Collectors Club, who pay an initial $50 for a quarterly magazine, an ornament, a catalogue, a cloisonne membership pin, an angel button, a certificate for club-only ornaments and notification when limited editions will be available.

Mr. Radko has ornament signings; autograph seekers must contribute $25 to a charity for the privilege. His favorite Christmas tree ornaments, he says, are those he designed for various organizations raising money for AIDS and breast cancer research. He also decorates trees and donates them to charity auctions. Last year, one brought $50,000.

But Mr. Radko wants more. He wants to wrap the North Pole and he wants to be interviewed by Barbara Walters. He also wants to be known for his humanitarian work and for spiritualism.

''I'm sort of at a turning point in my life,'' he said. ''I'm trying to uncover a deeper meaning of Christmas. For me, it is not something you buy in a store.''

Unless it's a Christopher Radko ornament.

The ornament as pop culture emblem, page 9 of this section.