There’s an amazing art exhibit at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont called “Chandelirious: The Dazzling World of Contemporary Chandeliers.” Three Schonbek crystal chandeliers are on display. The exhibit opens this Sunday, May 20.

I had a sneak preview when they had just finished hanging most of the chandeliers in the museum’s round barn. It’s a fascinating display.

Design and materials are highly experimental, like the chandelier made of ping pong balls, and the one made of plastic forks and spoons. The museum sought out the wildest work of designers from around the world.

In all there are 25 pieces. The fact that three of the chandeliers are by Schonbek shows the leadership Schonbek exercises in lighting design. And the fact that there could even be an art exhibit on chandeliers demonstrates how crazy everyone is getting about this particular light source.

“Chandelirious” is a fabulous name and captures exactly the mood of the decorating world.

The museum asked Schonbek for a completely traditional crystal chandelier for the exhibit, to remind people of how it all started, and how far out modern designers have gone with the idea. The chandelier Schonbek sent them for this purpose was a Renaissance with rock crystal, classic clear crystal, and colored crystal. This is one of my very favorite Schonbek crystal chandeliers. (The image I linked to is not precisely the one on display at the museum, but it’s close.)

Then there’s a Da Vinci™ by Schonbek, world’s first dishwasher safe crystal chandelier. The museum people were very excited about this piece. The incongruity of putting such a magnificent crystal composition into a dishwasher is really fun. The playfulness of Shelburne Museum exhibit is one of its most endearing qualities.

And most spectacular of all, there’s a Da Vinci™ LED hanging in the barn’s massive silo. This chandelier is a mesmerizing light show, one color fading mysteriously into the next. This piece isn’t even on the market yet. It’s just being introduced to the trade. So if you want one, you’ll have to wait a few months. But at least you can see it at the Shelburne Museum right now. The LED wasn’t installed yet when I went there for my sneak preview. So I’ll have to go back. I’d go back anyway. We’re going to take my mother-in-law to the exhibit for a treat. She’s chandelirious like me, though not as extreme a case.

There’s actually a fourth Schonbek crystal chandelier in the exhibit, but you’d never know it. It’s one that designer Tobias Wong has coated in industrial white rubber. The design becomes his when he turns it into a rubber chandelier, but it’s amusing to think that it started out in the world as a Schonbek. Wong seems to like Schonbek chandeliers, and Schonbek conversely admires his style. You can read about another edgy Tobias Wong crystal chandelier on our website.

Anyway, I highly recommend this exhibit. It’s on till October 28, so you can combine it with a trip to Vermont for summer fun or foliage.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007
We have some very boring lights in the hallway outside our ad agency. It occurred to me that we could consider mini crystal chandeliers instead.

Rialto comes in a style that attaches directly to the ceiling. It’s just 6 inches long, easily clearing the heads of anyone going up the stairs, and only 8 inches wide. Ornamented with Legacy Collection® crystal, it would be very affordable.

Think what a good message crystal in the hallway would send. Clients would assume your star was rising. Employees would feel a sense of fun as they climbed the stairs to work. They too would assume the company was doing well and might be less likely to change jobs or belittle the management. The only danger is that people might start expecting bigger raises.

But the employer could always point out that a crystal ceiling basket, like this tiny Rialto, doesn’t cost a lot more than a comparable ceiling basket from a big box store. If you’re going to buy a ceiling light anyway, might as well make it a Schonbek.

And if you shop at a mass market retail outlet, you might end up with a ceiling basket trimmed with plastic crystal. There’s nothing quite as tasteless as plastic pretending to be crystal.

The more I think about starting my work day with a vision of crystal, the more I like it. Every worker in America should be so lucky.

This is the age of special effects. Visually anything can happen. Perhaps that’s what makes the crystal chandelier newly attractive in the twenty-first century. A crystal chandelier is rich in special effects.

Light exploding amidst the sharp facets of the crystal jewels ornamenting a crystal chandelier rivals any light burst Hollywood can produce. Prismatic light is fiery, mysterious, thrillingly erratic and shockingly colorful. The pure and instantaneous quality of these bursts of spectral color has a hypnotic effect.

When you look long and closely at a crystal chandelier, time stands still. Simultaneously you are somehow in touch with the energy of the universe, which is anything but standing still. The paradox adds to the pleasure.

To create the liveliest display of prismatic light, the more crystal the better. Da Vinci™ with its thousands of crystal jewels might be the ultimate example of special effects in a crystal chandelier.

Perhaps it’s obvious that I saw a sci fi movie this weekend. I was bombarded by mysterious flashes of light, moving the plot forward and causing my heart to race and my adrenalin to pump.

A Da Vinci™ crystal chandelier delivers excitement without all this unpleasantness.

In a sci fi movie, you’re on the edge of your seat. If Da Vinci™ is your movie, you’re deep in your seat, relaxed and happy, immersed in the ineffable, inexplicable beauty of light and color.

By the way, we have a video of Da Vinci™ on this website. Better yet, see Da Vinci™ in person at an authorized Geometrix® dealer.