Friday, June 22, 2007

If you want an instant impression of what Geometrix® designs really look like, see the video clips on this website. We just added a few new ones. To view them, pick your format.

The new Geometrix® premium colors come alive in motion. I could look at these little movies all day, if I didn’t have piles of work on my desk.

You may be just as busy. But do take a few seconds to look at the Elements video. Elements is a wonderful new design category. The name is suggestive of the simplicity of the form. At the same time, Elements is not as simple as all that, because of the tremendous dynamism of the new crystal colors. Schonbek combined simple shapes with ineffably complex crystal colors in creating Elements.

There’s an amazing Elements bath bar that isn’t included in the video. If you’re thinking of remodeling your bathroom in a contemporary style, you should go to any lengths to see this bath bar in person. I mean it. Check the list of Geometrix® dealers and call one.

Meanwhile, don’t fail to view the video on the new Vertex® Pentahedron. This is an amazing shape for a chandelier and frankly feels like it came from another dimension altogether. And imagine the fun of owning a light source named Vertex® Pentahedron. When I first heard the name, I knew I was going to love the chandelier. It is extraordinary.

Another new video clip shows Vertex® Diamonds. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more edgy interpretation of the classic diamond shape.

High tech lighting has always tended to focus more on shape than color. Thanks to Schonbek’s invention of Geometrix®, you get to play with the drama of color and form both.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The new master catalog of Schonbek crystal chandeliers arrived at the Dallas lighting show today. It was a happy moment for the designers, writers, proofreaders, and production manager at our agency. We’ve been working on the catalog for well over a year.

Our challenge has been that Schonbek is simply too creative, too prolific, in the matter of design. Just when we thought we had a complete list of chandelier designs in a certain category, Schonbek would invent something new, if not several new designs.

And then there was the challenge of photographing the chandeliers. A design that includes a variety of crystal types – colored and clear crystal, for example, or rock crystal and clear crystal, or even combinations of several types – is a nightmare to photograph. And Schonbek is committed to presenting consumers with the best possible images of their products.

But we lived through the photography somehow, and the crystal chandeliers look wonderful (although there’s never any substitute for seeing them in person at a lighting showroom).

The Schonbek master catalog is actually a collection of catalogs, rather than one big catalog. Schonbek creates distinct collections of crystal chandeliers: historical, contemporary, designs with colored crystal or rock crystal, and so forth.

This versatility is evident as never before in the new master catalog.

The differences between a Jasmine contemporary crystal chandelier and a traditional La Scala chandelier are vast. These designs will attract entirely different types of people and find themselves ultimately in very different settings. Yet Schonbek approached each of these designs with utter passion and single-minded ingenuity, as if nothing else in the world mattered.

Getting back to the new master catalog, you should now have more reason than ever to visit a lighting showroom and see a Schonbek display.  Not only will you have the pleasure of viewing Schonbek chandeliers live, your lighting consultant can show you images of whatever chandeliers you like in other sizes, colors (if appropriate), or configurations. The new master catalog is a great reference book.

Publishing a new catalog is a big deal for Schonbek because their designs are entirely original. Copycat manufacturers (and there are many of these) have no trouble churning out catalogs because they don’t have the bother of original design. Sometimes they even scan Schonbek photos for use in their catalogs, which really makes life easy for them! At least until the copyright law catches up with them.

The Certificate of Authenticity that comes with every Schonbek crystal chandelier means what it says. Your Schonbek is like nothing else, combining originality of design with a unique history.

Monday, June 18, 2007

In a rut? Acquire a crystal chandelier by Schonbek. You may find yourself abandoning your favorite armchair for a new favorite, going shopping for a new accessories to complement it, or having deep conversations with your mate by the fire of the chandelier – instead of watching the evening news.

We just installed a new Renaissance chandelier with rock crystal and colored crystal. I’ll link to this image of Renaissance to show you the proportions, although my chandelier has Olivine and Smoke Topaz crystal rather than Jet Black.

I thought I was an expert on this crystal chandelier, having written about it numerous times. But living with the actual chandelier has totally changed my way of thinking about it. There’s a depth to the design that I could never have imagined. You’re drawn into it by the luminous center spike framed by the airy open cage of the framework. And the layering of rock crystal, clear crystal and colored crystal pendants at multiple points and levels of the chandelier also draws you in. So there’s an interaction going on with the chandelier, stimulated by the spectral brilliance of the crystal, lively and unpredictable.

The finial sphere is another wondrous feature of this crystal chandelier. It’s an enormous blown crystal ball with handcut indentations encircling it and a big star handcut on the bottom. The sheer size of the sphere is quite startling. And it hangs down unusually low, boldly inviting your admiration.

I saw at once that the rug in the room wasn’t good enough for this crystal chandelier, and the rug was banished upstairs to a subsidiary guest room. We’re moving around all the rugs in the house, and will probably buy a new Oriental, all because of Renaissance.

Of course if you work with an interior designer, she or he will foresee all these possible upheavals and plan for them. Either way, though, you can expect the experience of owning a Schonbek crystal chandelier to be life-changing.