(holiday music) - I get to be creative.

That's really what's asked of me is be creative.

Create something new that we haven't seen before.

And we will build it.

And that's probably the best feeling for a designer to be able to put something on paper and then see it come to fruition.

- Here at Phipps we have a planning committee that's made up of individuals from every department so they really get a say during the design process.

- The process begins about a year in advance when we start planning the shows.

We come up with kind of a theme for what the show is going to be.

- The theme for this year is festival of trees.

It's a wonderful time of year to bring the outside inside, and that's really what were evoking with festival of trees.

- Each room has a concept plan.

We start looking at plant catalogs, trying to use plants in a way that we haven't used them before.

- I also design all of the props that were gonna be building for the show.

- We're presented with a sketch of what she would like to see happen in the show with dimensions.

And then it's our job to produce it in real life.

- I focus on those small details that make holiday magic come to life every year.

- Phipps was established in 1893.

It was a gift to the city from Henry Phipps, a prominent industrialist.

Over the first few decades you see it build into a sort of a pilgrimage of tradition for Pittsburghers.

In their initial days it would be reported in the newspaper that 20000 people or more might come on a single day.

- We know what has been successful for us in the past.

There is some sense of visitor expectation.

- We really talk about what would have the biggest impact, the biggest wow factor, what our visitors might want to see.

For me, it was exciting to take on the winter flower show, because it's honestly my favorite time of year.

- We have a carousel that will be going in in this show so we'll be working on programming some lighting for that, figuring out how we can make it look as if it's moving without it actually moving.

And there are chandeliers that hang from the palm court and where we were required to bend pipe.

- Our east room will feature a forest feast, very cute whimsical display of bears and birds decorating a tree.

- [Peter] We will be building the woodland table here where the creatures will be having their holiday feast.

- We also balance that whimsical with formal.

- The green mesh corresponds to the bright green color of the plants that are going in the broderie room where these are being installed.

Every piece is wired separately onto the wreath.

This is very contemporary design this year.

It's really gonna carry across the large room.

It'll be lovely.

- Our serpentine room, it's a snowy birch forest with a sprinkling of topiary reindeer throughout.

The antlers of the topiary reindeer are made from the dried bunches of fruit from some of our palms.

Once those berries dry up and fall off, you're kind of left with this really cool kind of dried branch that looks a lot like an antler.

We really do a lot behind the scenes and without the support of a really cohesive horticulture team and talent and our volunteers, you know, we would not be able to put on the shows that we do.

So it is definitely a team effort here.

When we come together it really shows.

The amount of work that goes into putting in these shows, and then to see it completed, and then to see people, 175000 people enjoying it, it's spectacular.

(folksy music) - When you take the beautiful horticulture that is Phipps' signature and you combine it with illuminated displays, there's really nothing like it anywhere else.

And to have that all together in a 126 year old Victorian glass house, there's no other holiday ticket like it.

(folksy music)