All is calm, all is bright

Lantern maker Pawlu Zammit reveals the tricks of his trade to Sarah Carabott – patience and a huge love for Christmas. It all started 14 years ago, when Pawlu Zammit was doing some maintenance work at the Imtarfa secondary school and came across a small cardboard lantern left behind by one of the students. He asked the headmaster to borrow it to replicate it, and has since then been producing much more elaborate one-foot Christmas lanterns. Today the pensioner decorates the Cospicua home for the elderly (where he works part time) with the colourful lanterns, lit up with LED lights. The 66-year-old takes pride in these Christmas decorations, which take some three weeks to make. Since that day at the Imtarfa school, Pawlu has made 20 lanterns, each with their own unique design. He starts by choosing the design and drafts a silhouette. For the figures, he takes photos of people’s silhouettes, resizes the pictures, and uses them to stencil the design on the lantern. After meticulously cutting out the design, he covers the holes with coloured plastic. “It takes time to make them; you cannot produce them like pastizzi,” he says, addingthat the two most importantingredients are patience...