Under FAQs, there are two tremendously useful questions:

How high should I hang my chandelier?

And…

How big should my chandelier be?

I remembered the formula that I should hang my crystal chandelier 30 inches above the table. But I forgot that I have high ceilings. So I should have added a few inches.

It’s fun to be able to see the individual crystal in your crystal chandelier, at times more interesting than looking into the eyes of your dinner guests. But I went too far with this thought.   Someday we’ll raise this chandelier a bit.

When I interviewed the wild New York Designer Tobias Wong, he lamented the fact that people hang their crystal chandeliers so high, they never really see them. As you can imagine, I sympathized with his view.

My kitchen crystal chandelier is another offender in the matter of crowding guests. Because our kitchen is small, people tend to lean forward when they get up from certain chairs around the kitchen table. Tall people hit their heads on the chandelier. “Watch the chandelier!” is a cry often heard in our kitchen when there’s company.

We’ve never had any real damage to heads or crystal or chandelier. But there are no guarantees that people who hang their crystal chandeliers too low are going to escape consequences.

I’m a good example of how a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I had that 30-inch formula in my head and didn’t think further. This is why I advocate discussing chandelier size and hanging height with a lighting consultant at an authorized Schonbek dealer. As you’re going through the process of choosing your Schonbek crystal chandelier, be guided by the professionals who have been thoroughly trained in such matters.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

One important contribution a crystal chandelier can make is to give a room a focal point. You can have a beautifully designed and accessorized room, and still end up with a feeling of unease. Your eyes don’t know where to look.

I’m reminded of Renaissance art, and the period when perspective and vanishing points became a fascination. Minor artists didn’t always know how to achieve focus, and their paintings can feel crowded. Whereas the great Michelangelo will perfectly control where your attention goes, even in a complex visual field.

A crystal chandelier offers an instant solution to the challenge of composition. It has such a strong personality that the other furnishings and accessories in the room bow to its brilliance. With a dominant element, the room feels confident and alive.

You can see this happening again in the Beautiful Rooms section of this website.

This bedroom with Versailles is filled with luxurious fabrics and distinguished by elaborate moldings. At the same time, there’s a lot of space tempting the eye to wander about. The Schonbek crystal chandelier anchors the composition beautifully.

Of course the dining room is the classic example of a space that cries out for a crystal chandelier. Long tables fill a room with a ponderous awareness of the functional necessity to feed people. A crystal chandelier mixes fun with function.

Crystal chandeliers appear less often in living rooms, but this living room shows how much can be gained by introducing crystal. The need for seating arrangements and low tables can bring down the eye level of the observer.. A crystal chandelier lifts the eye as well as the spirits.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Human beings love to be amazed. A horse that talks. A child prodigy. A crystal chandelier that you can pop into the dishwasher…

Yes, that must be why we’re getting so much media coverage of Da Vinci™, Schonbek’s dishwasher safe crystal chandelier. It’s a marvel.

Although the pace of modern life is famously fast, there’s still a general feeling that everyday life should be more high tech than it is. Cars should be driving themselves by now. Robots should be doing our housework. Space travel should be available and affordable. Much of the progress we’ve been led to expect has simply not materialized. So when something comes along like a crystal chandelier that can go into the dishwasher, we feel the future is finally here.

Da Vinci™ is definitely the crystal chandelier of the future. Not only is it dishwasher safe, it’s celestial in inspiration. As we learn more and more about the universe, it seems only right that there should be more galactic imagery in home design. Da Vinci™ resembles a heavenly body of ineffable brilliance. You bring a little of the feeling of deep space into your home, when you acquire this crystal chandelier. Star-gazing can become an indoor activity. (For a taste of this, watch the Da Vinci™ video.)

Like stars, like planets, Da Vinci™ comes in a variety of sizes. We took a photo of multiple Da Vinci™ chandeliers over a dining room table, to show how you might work with them like a continuum of small moons. And we photographed a big one in a loft. People with soaring ceilings are fortunate. They can accommodate a massive Da Vinci™ with its fiery display of prismatic effects.