When Schonbek was designing the tiny crystal chandelier collection and certain pieces in the colored crystal chandelier collection, they decided to miniaturize the crystal in many cases, as well as the chandeliers. But miniaturized crystal wasn’t readily available at that time, and many heirloom shapes of crystal had gone out of fashion and weren’t being made anymore.

So Schonbek commissioned antique styles and sizes of crystal specifically for the new chandelier designs.

Look at a Florentine crystal chandelier and note the strands of teensy faceted crystal beads and the grapelets of colored crystal. They give the feeling of estate jewelry. I can easily picture these crystal swag chains wrapped around several times and glittering softly on the tightly corseted form of a Victorian society woman.

Notice also the dainty crystal pendeloques. Classic pendeloques tend to be rather large. But these are delicately downsized, so much so that hand-cutting and hand-polishing the beveled edges is a considerable challenge.

Genesis is another chandelier rich in Vintage Crystal®. A plethora of tiny colored crystal cabochons dangle from the foliate framework. At the same time, Genesis isn’t a vintage design. It exists outside time. Vintage Crystal® in this context contributes color and fun. And it’s suggestive of fruit, which is perfect for a crystal chandelier inspired by the Tree of Life.

Genesis is also ornamented with rock crystal bobeches and a large rock crystal finial. This juxtaposition of crystal types is quite daring. Because there is no precedent for it, you have to be an inspired designer to do it. Schonbek carries it off with aplomb. A crystal chandelier always invites contemplation, these subtly complex Schonbek designs even more so.

Thursday, May 10, 2007
A crystal chandelier is, above all, an artistic presentation of crystal. We’ve been working on Schonbek collateral materials this week, and once again I’ve been reminded of the amazing variety of crystal types Schonbek works with.

Strass® crystal is, of course, top of the line. For sheer brilliance you can’t do better than Strass®. If you cruise the web looking at crystal chandeliers, as I do, you’ll note that other manufacturers also use Strass® crystal. What makes Schonbek different is centuries of experience working with crystal. Schonbek knows how to design a chandelier to get the most possible beauty and brilliance out of the crystal type. Anybody in the fashion business can make a silk dress, for example, but making silk look its most gorgeous, getting the most out of its unique qualities, is a rare talent. So if you’re investing in Strass®, might as well invest in its presentation with an original Schonbek design.

I don’t happen to have any crystal chandeliers with Strass® jewels, but I do have lamps accented with it. And I’ve seen Strass®-trimmed chandeliers many times in the Schonbek factory. The new Strass® Golden Teak crystal chandeliers are particularly wonderful examples of glorious crystal magnificently displayed.

Schonbek offers many designs with Heritage Handcut® crystal as well. I love handcut crystal just because it is handmade. Schonbek’s proprietary brand is of the highest grade. La Scala and Versailles are examples of chandeliers hung with Heritage Handcut® crystal.

You’ll find a lengthy write-up about crystal on this website. Other manufacturers don’t have as much to say on the subject. Often they are ominously silent, because they really see crystal as a commodity. Schonbek is so intensely focused on crystal and its properties that often the company invents a whole new category of crystal. Optic quality Heritage Handcut® crystal, for example.

Schonbek got the amazing idea of taking the exceedingly pure crystal used in optical instruments and making it into pendants for crystal chandeliers. Most recently Schonbek has used massive chunks of optic crystal to carve the bodies of contemporary crystal chandeliers like Jasmine. And chic lamps like Keilah.

Vintage Crystal® is another invention that fascinates me. But more about that later.

Monday, May 7, 2007
I was cruising the web the other day looking at the websites of some other crystal chandelier manufacturers. Some have enormous websites, mostly made up of spec sheets. I was curious to see what they said about the crystal they use.

In my search I came upon a picture of a crystal chandelier that looked just like a classic Schonbek design called Contessa.

It was so exactly like the Schonbek crystal chandelier, I printed out the page and showed it someone at Schonbek. She said, “That’s our photo.” I looked closely, and sure enough. The chandelier was precisely the same, and in the photo, every candle and piece of crystal was in exactly the same position as in the Schonbek catalog.

So we have a manufacturer of crystal chandeliers that has a big website that’s passing off a Schonbek catalog photo as their own. The chandelier they’re selling presumably mirrors the photo.

But it’s not made in the Schonbek factory. The frame and the connectors are all copied from a Schonbek frame and connectors, and are bound to have lost a lot in the translation. And who knows how the frame finish has been made? How durable will it be? Schonbek finishes are original formulas that may be superficially imitated but can never be duplicated. They are multi-layered and designed to last.

How can you trust a company that would steal a design, and even scan the Schonbek catalog photo of that design? You can’t be sure you’re getting the crystal they claim to be using. You can’t know how well the frame will fit together or hold up. If anything is wrong with the chandelier, will anyone make it right? You’re dealing with a company that sources everything from somewhere else, a virtual company, not an old established company like Schonbek.

If you ever have a question about a Schonbek crystal chandelier or need replacement parts, you just call Schonbek. There’s a large customer service department occupying offices next to the Schonbek factory, awaiting your call. There are Schonbek family members in the same building who are upholding a company reputation that goes back to 1870. When I have meetings with them, they talk about you, the customer, as if you were family too. They would never entertain the idea of a compromise in the quality of the Schonbek product.

Contessa is a shocking design to try and steal, because it’s been in the Schonbek portfolio for generations. It’s so incontrovertibly an original Schonbek! Of course the copycats have their eye on new Schonbek designs, too. As soon as Schonbek introduces a new crystal chandelier at a trade show, unscrupulous manufacturers are imitating it. Sometimes the bad copy gets to market before the Schonbek original, because the manufacturer is not unduly worried about quality.

The moral of this story? Make sure it’s a Schonbek.