Friday, June 15, 2007

I still can’t get over the new premium colors for Geometrix®.  I was hopping around from page to page just now taking them in, and I stopped with special delight at Geode.

Now Geode is a rather modest Geometrix® design. The shape is inspired by a geodesic dome, but the diameter is quite small: four, five or six inches. When I first saw Geode I thought of it as a dazzling little meteor – something from deep space arriving unexpectedly in an interior space. Andrew Schonbek has referred to it as the dot on an exclamation point. It does seem to emanate surprise, as if saying to itself, “How did I get here anyway?”

The fun thing about Geode is that you can’t read by it, cook by it or do anything with it except to enjoy its presence. In other word, it’s not a task light but a purely decorative thing.  And to my eye, a Geode wants to be with other Geodes, like multiple moons or showers of meteors.  This design makes beautiful clusters.

I haven’t thought about Geode in a while, but suddenly Schonbek has created these new premium colors for Geometrix®, and Geode has come alive for me again. Because of the geodesic dome configuration, Geode has lots of surfaces displaying crystal, despite its modest size.

My favorites among the new colors for Geode are Boa, Moss, Dusk, Bullet and Pomegranate.  I go for passionate complexity. It’s interesting how people love to pick favorites – in every category from movies to colors. I suppose we’re expressing ourselves, or even discovering ourselves. I experience an irresistible attraction to Pomegranate, and learn something new about myself. Frankly I want to wear Pomegranate, but I don’t have the courage and anyway it doesn’t exist as fabric. But I can introduce this amazing color into my décor, hinting at the  emotional pomegranate hidden somewhere in my psyche.

I hope you’ll explore the new Geometrix® color pages. But seeing the colors in person is infinitely better, because they’re so unbelievably dynamic. You can find a Geometrix® dealer right on this website.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

There’s a whole new collection of crystal colors becoming available for Geometrix® high tech lighting designs. Schonbek calls them “premium colors” and they just went online.

As always with Geometrix®, the word “color” doesn’t begin to describe what’s happening. But the newest colors push the very limits of the color spectrum.

Schonbek has been at work creatively manipulating light waves to create color sensations, rather than mere colors. And there are all sorts of complexities at work: random patterns with different crystal colors, different orientations of crystal and so forth. You won’t get an experience of color anything like this from anyone but Schonbek.

You don’t merely see these colors, you feel them, viscerally and emotionally.

Some of the colors may be described as earth tones. Others are wildly iridescent.

The new colors use Strass® jewels that are exclusive to Schonbek. When you hear the name Strass®, you know automatically that there’s going to be an amazing degree of brilliance. These colors are like nothing you’ve ever see. They appear to be in constant shimmering motion.

Andrew Schonbek named most (perhaps all) of the new premium colors. Some of my favorites: Ocelot, Rave, Forest Floor. I particularly like the names that suggest wildness and mystery, because that’s the sensation of looking at these amazing colors.

But w ho knows what you’re seeing on your screen, as you view these colors! The sad thing about the internet is that colors vary a lot from monitor to monitor. So you really need to visit a Geometrix® dealer to know what I’m talking about. Another good idea is to send for the new Geometrix® DVD.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Tobias Wong loves to reinvent Schonbek crystal chandeliers. And Schonbek is delighted to catch the eye of this wild young designer. When I interviewed Tobias Wong, he emphasized that his thing is luxury. Diamonds, pearls and chandeliers are forms he loves to play with.

We have a write-up on this website about the Schonbek crystal chandelier he reinvented that’s on display at the “Design Life Now” exhibit at Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City. This exhibit ends after July 29, so if you want to go and you’re in or near New York, you should make your plans and get there.

Summer goes by fast, and while you’re busy swimming, hiking, picnicking and barbequing, it’s all too easy to forget about art.

Happily, if you do forget, you’ll have another chance to see the exhibit. I just found out that the show will be traveling to other locations. Namely:

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston: 9/28/07-1/6/08
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston: 1/26-4/20/08

Tobias Wong is on my mind just now, having seen his white rubber-coated crystal chandelier (a Schonbek in disguise) at the Shelburne Museum “Chandelirious” exhibit this past weekend. We took my mother-in-law to the exhibit on Sunday. She really enjoyed the whole show, although I have to report that her favorite things were the Schonbek crystal chandeliers. I can’t say I didn’t prompt her. But she would have gone for the crystal chandeliers in any case. She shares Tobias Wong’s predilection for luxury items.