Jeff Junkins

Working with the Department 56 Creative Team since 1998, Jeff Junkins has designed many different pieces for the many of the Villages. He has worked on "The Original Snow Village®," "Christmas In The City®," the "Literary Classics® Collection", "Legendary Ballparks," "American Pride," the "Historical Landmark" Series®" and the "Williamsburg" series, to name a few.

We asked Jeff to tell us what his favorite and most recent project has been. "I really enjoyed working on the new subseries for The Original Snow Village, the "Catalog Home Series", homes inspired by the catalog homes of the early 20th Century. Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, and Aladdin were some of the many companies that offered house kits that included everything from shingles, siding, nails, plumbing fixtures, doors and flooring. The kit was shipped by railroad car and often assembled by the homeowner and friends." He has designed two homes to date - the "Lynnhaven" and the "Stratford." He tells us that he likes the challenge of working on a project that is inspired by real homes. "It's nice to pay tribute to these beautiful old homes that are still functioning and looking beautiful today."

Jeff meets with the Village Creative Director on a regular basis and learns as much as he can about the piece before he starts to work on the design. He inquires about how the piece will fit into the series, what size restrictions might exist, accessories that will accompany the piece and desired color palette.

When asked if there was a piece that he designed that he knew would need to have major alterations in order to keep in line with the technology and the scale of the Villages, he quickly answered that it would have to the the Empire State Building. "When I first started working on this piece I illustrated it with far too many windows, wanting to keep it as close to the original building, but I obviously had to edit it down to fewer stories so it could be produced and fit within the series."

Department 56 the leader and gold standard in lighted collectible Villages, is part of the Enesco family of brands and is located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.