It’s a curious thing how the world loves novelty. A company must keep reinventing itself and its products in order to prosper. At the same time, there’s a universal fondness for the familiar. We’re never going to put the Mona Lisa in the back room of the museum because it’s been around the block. It will always fascinate us.

Schonbek has a wonderful talent for reinventing the crystal chandelier. When you think about it, a crystal chandelier has a unique potential to be both new and venerable. It’s a part of the history of interior design, and of   social mores in the western world. It’s interwoven with the glory days of the aristocracy, the rise of the merchant class, the mania for collecting that started in ancient times and continues today.

The Schonbeks have been designers from day one (going back to 1870). In most cases, when you look at a traditional crystal chandelier designed by Schonbek, although you’re seeing a souvenir of the past, you’re also looking at many subtle and satisfying innovations.  

A Schonbek crystal chandelier will have many refinements that the ordinary observer won’t know are there. And yet these refinements send a message.

Schonbek’s Maria Theresa chandelier is a good example of authenticity in league with innovation. Schonbek recaptured the essence of historic models, while somewhat stylizing the design.   This style of crystal chandelier needs imaginative handling. A traditional Maria Theresa has crystal claddings on both sides of each arm and frame element. The framework is flat, and their crystal claddings are called listels. In the wrong hands, such a complex construction can look cumbersome.   To me the wrong hands means a company looking for a quick profit and not especially interested in getting to the heart of a design idea. The result is a hodge-podge of curves and lights and rickety parts.

There’s an elegance to Schonbek’s Maria Theresa that you don’t see elsewhere. Schonbek has given the world a reinterpretation of this classic crystal chandelier style rather than a crude reproduction. At the same time, the Schonbek design is rich in historic details: crystal rosettes concealing the joints where the listels meet, ornamental crystal stars, and of course the characteristic violin-like profile of the chandelier. With Schonbek’s design refinements, by the way, the violin shape of this crystal chandelier is clearly visible despite the elaborate trim.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

I never realized how much time I spend in the bathroom until I redecorated it. Now that it’s a whole new room, with a cast iron tub and pedastal sink to match, and a crystal chandelier with wall sconces to match, I’m no longer a zombie in the morning, scarcely aware of my grooming activities. I’m alert and enjoying the environment.

A friend who comes by now and then to share a pizza said to me, “My visits to your bathroom are the high point of my week.”   No doubt he was exaggerating, but remarks like this are pleasant to hear, nonetheless.

Incidentally, I don’t think he distinguishes between the tub and the crystal chandelier. He never mentions the chandelier. He’s really talking about the room overall. This is good, a sign that all the elements are working together.   A crystal chandelier, despite being a stand-out, does have a way of integrating itself with the other furnishings in the room. After all, it’s attracting and refracting all the colors in the room.

Why do people redecorate, anyway? They might not be able to articulate why, but I think it’s to indulge in the fun of being alive, and in possession of one’s own personal living space.

In traditional Japanese homes there’s hardly any furniture, but there is an alcove, the tokonomo, with a scroll that the owners change to reflect the seasons. There’s also a flower arrangement that changes. These subtle adjustments serve the same function as redecorating in the western world.

The great American novelist Edith Wharton used to buy houses just for the fun of decorating them. I can understand this completely. I could use several houses to express my fondness for crystal chandeliers!

Monday, July 10, 2006

My husband is crazy about Cezanne. He’s decided that a Cezanne painting has a lot in common with a room lighted by a crystal chandelier.

A crystal chandelier has a tremendous effect on how and what you see. The crystal breaks up the light so that it’s coming and going from many different directions. There is no stream of light focusing dumbly on an object, creating a stark image and predictable shadows. There’s a wonderful confusion and diffusion that gives us an experience rather than a mere image.

Often you don’t quite know what to focus on with Cezanne. The Renaissance love of scientific perspective is out the window, the table strangely tilted, the wall not quite where it should be. You experience the apples, or the trees, rather than getting a frozen picture of them. The same thing happens with a crystal chandelier. The room it lights acquires a palpable life, and you can’t quite pinpoint why. There’s a gleam to the furniture, a soft excitability in the air, and everything looks beautiful.

You can sit and look at a painting by Cezanne for a long time, and it’s never boring. The colors and the shapes penetrate your being. Something wonderful is revealed, and it’s better if you don’t try putting it into words.

You can look at a crystal chandelier for a long time, too, and your enjoyment of it simply intensifies. It’s not a Cezanne, but maybe you can’t afford a Cezanne. (I know I can’t.) A Schonbek crystal chandelier is at least attainable. It’s working with the same things that fascinated Cezanne: the amazing behavior of light, the blissful quality of perception unhampered by preconceptions. And it’s beautiful.