Friday, February 23, 2007
I once had a dream that I was wandering through my house and discovered a door I didn’t know was there. It led to five more rooms I didn’t know I had, including a big bathroom. I was thrilled. So many new decorating opportunities, so many more spaces to beautify with crystal chandeliers!

Waking up was hard to do.

Most people, I suspect, don’t dream about new decorating opportunities. They can find them easily enough in real life. The guest room that’s not quite special enough. The neglected hallway. The uninspired bathroom. The out-of-date kitchen.

I’m a great fan of superficial decorating, as a way to get quick gratification. Glorious effects can be achieved with a little fresh paint, a new carpet, and of course a crystal chandelier. It’s the crystal chandelier that’s really going to make the difference. The good news is, even a tiny crystal chandelier can have a big impact, if it’s a Schonbek.

There’s a song from the late sixties with a line in it something like, “We’re filling up the sky with garbage.” One way to deal with this bitter truth is by filling the world with beauty. The place to start is the place where you live.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

What could be more satisfying a crystal chandelier in its full glory, the undisputed focal point of the space it occupies? Perhaps a tantalizing glimpse of a crystal chandelier, only partly seen through an open door.

It’s the Vermeer principle. Devotees of decorating should all be scholars of Vermeer. No artist is better at capturing the resonance of the space beyond the space where you are.

We’ve just finished redecorating our bedroom (in a modest way). I’m particularly pleased with how the room looks just before you enter it. The Fra Filippo Lippi museum poster is in full view. But you only see a part of the Artifact crystal chandelier, the amethyst colored crystal fruit at the lowest point of the chandelier coyly framed by the door.

It’s fun to compose the approach to a room, as well as designing its interior.

I’m reminded of the Katsura imperial stroll garden in Kyoto, famous for its beautiful views and vistas from every step of every path. You can stop where you are at any point and the garden is different, offering you new charms to contemplate. (Not that my humble bedroom can be compared with Katsura, but we’re just talking about ideas.)

I know for a fact that a Schonbek crystal chandelier is designed to be beautiful from above or below, from this side or that. The late Arnold Schonbek made a point of this when I interviewed him once, some years ago. I’ve often watched his son Andrew Schonbek walk all around a new crystal chandelier design, studying it intently from every angle.

So if you want to want to half-reveal your crystal chandelier in some intriguing way, as you compose the approach to a room, all the more reason to make sure the chandelier is a Schonbek. A sighting of any part of it will draw you irresistibly into the room.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

I was watching a martial arts movie with my husband late last night, with the crystal chandelier in the bedroom dimmed down low. The hero was making mincemeat of one terrifying opponent after another. The event was of international importance, and therefore held in a huge structure lit by multiple crystal chandeliers.

Before watching the movie, I was reading a Russian novel set in the nineteenth-century on a country estate lit by crystal chandeliers.

So there I was, living a day of my rather simple life surrounded by crystal chandeliers – real, cinematic and novelistic.

If I were a denizen of the fashion world, I’d probably be perpetually noticing the different brands of designer clothing people are wearing. Since I spend my days writing copy about crystal chandeliers, I see chandeliers everywhere.

I count myself lucky. Some people want nothing better than to flee their work at the end of the work day. I look forward to going home and having my slapdash dinner under a Schonbek crystal chandelier, reading a novel by the light of a Schonbek crystal lamp and taking a bath by crystal light. If an idea for an ad or a blog drifts through my mind, as a result of all the stimulating prismatic light I’m immersed in, I’m delighted.

If you have a limited amount of mad money, as I do, I highly recommend spending it on crystal chandeliers. If you hate your job, you can escape to a better world at home every night. If you love your job, living with crystal chandeliers will only intensify your self image of a person having the most possible fun in life.