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Photo Paul Schlissman
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Just 30 miles from Chicago, on the Fox River, the floating Grand Victoria Casino creates a dazzling world outside time and boundaries.
Most dazzling of all are the seven Schonbek chandeliers lighting the play.
In the spirit of the Victorian era, the chandeliers are outrageously elaborate, composed of Gemcut™ crystal and stained glass by Meyda Tiffany.
Although crystal and stained glass each have a venerable history, they share little in common but splendor. Manufacturing the eight-foot-wide chandeliers was no game of roulette.
Making curved ribs out of crystal should be impossible, but the Schonbek design team achieved it by weaving a dense fabric of crystal icicles.
The stained glass panels were manufactured with the help of a steel mold provided by Schonbek. Fitting glass and crystal panels together seamlessly was just the sort of technical hurdle we love to surmount.
According to Terry Dougall, president of Dougall Design, interior design firm for the casino, “There’s nobody who comes close to matching the quality of Schonbek.”
Each chandelier is 8 feet in diameter and 3 1/2 feet long, has 192 interior lights and weighs 750 pounds.
Despite the large scale of the chandeliers, their design is highly refined. The metalwork, for example, has an intricate raised surface with two tones of finish unique to Schonbek: Bronze Gold and Etruscan Gold.
The dense cap of crystal at the bottom of the design is a crystal chandelier in itself. It can be removed to facilitate changing light bulbs. A cardinal rule at Schonbek is to design our chandeliers with maintenance in mind.
According to Mike Stratte, project manager for the casino, “The experience of working with Schonbek was A-plus. Delivery was on time. And the chandeliers went up with no problems. The electrical journeymen got each chandelier installed and lit in one shift. Installation went exactly the way Schonbek said it would.”
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To discuss your project, email Paul Greselin or call 1-800-836-1892
or 1-518-563-7500. Or fax 1-518-563-4228. |
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