Friday, August 3, 2007

Things that defy description are uniquely fascinating to a writer, which is why I love writing about crystal chandeliers.

It’s not that you can’t find words to describe the physical properties of a crystal chandelier. You can go on and on about the styling, the cut of the crystal, the historic and poetic allusions inherent in the design. But what happens when you watch a crystal chandelier is not really conceptual. It’s an experience. A happening. I use the word “watch” quite deliberately. The play of light among the crystal ornaments is ceaseless and also unpredictable, so that a crystal chandelier is not just an object in space, but an entity in time.

Perhaps the whole world is really like this, and I’ve only observed it in contemplating crystal chandeliers.

The prismatic dance of light can be quite subtle, if your chandelier is lightly trimmed with crystal. With a lavishly trimmed crystal chandelier, you can be totally bedazzled by the visual display.

Still photos, of course, freeze the prismatic action of the crystal. So you end up seeing the form without the spirit. The form can be quite lovely, and looking at images is a useful step in the process of shopping for a crystal chandelier. But there’s no substitute for a visit to a large showroom well stocked with Schonbek crystal chandeliers.

Videos are better than still shots, and if you feel like immersing yourself in the beauty of prismatic light, even while you relax at your computer, have a look at some of the videos on this website.

A particularly fun one shows the new Schonbek LED chandelier.

And there are a variety of videos of the many Geometrix® designs.

If you’re tastes are more traditional, you might like to watch the video on new Strass® Golden Teak crystal chandeliers by Schonbek.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007
A black crystal chandelier is the way to go if  you want to project an air of mystery in a room. Black crystal is like the dark matter in the universe and the moon in eclipse. It can be explained, but no amount of explaining takes away its eerie fascination.

Schonbek does not spray the crystal pendants black, as some manufacturers do. Rather they are inherently black. A secret formula results in crystal of an ineffable glossy blackness through and through.

A black crystal chandelier would also be ideal for sophisticates. People who wear black habitually, understand contemporary art and pay a lot for haircuts should seriously consider black crystal chandeliers.

I think a black crystal chandelier might appeal to philosophical types, too.

When I look at the  huge image I have on my wall of a black Hamilton chandelier, I tend to fall into daydreams and odd speculations. The design of this crystal chandelier is quite traditional, but the fact that it’s totally black is not. I think of it as symbolic of the truth about history. You can’t entirely trust the history books. Recorded versions of events are never perfectly accurate, and so much is left out! An historic crystal chandelier rendered in black is a reminder that we’ll never know for sure if Jane Austin ever had a serious romance, or how Bach’s wife may have influenced his music.

I would love to have a  Hamilton black crystal chandelier. In my case, perhaps it’s a desire to possess crystal chandeliers in various representative styles, just because I’m a fan. A black crystal chandelier like Hamilton represents a tantalizing juxtaposition of the classic and the iconoclastic.

Monday, July 30, 2007
Am I the same person I was last year? Or ten years ago? Or last night? This is why it’s nice to hang a different crystal chandelier in every room – just because we keep changing our moods and adjusting our personalities, and there’s fun to be had in expressing all that.

I know there are people who maintain they never change. These stable people can stick with one crystal chandelier style throughout the house, and live happily ever after. They are particularly lucky if they go with Schonbek, because Schonbek is excellent at making different sizes and configurations of the same basic chandelier style for different applications. Schonbek approaches every version of a crystal chandelier design as if it were the first they created, and meticulous attention is paid to matters like harmony and correct proportion. I have to admit there's a wonderful purity to maintaining one style of chandelier in your decor. But it's not possible for me.

My first crystal chandelier was a La Scala, and it expressed my love of history and the period rooms in museums. Frankly I’ll never get over the thrill of living with an aesthetic that dates back centuries. And Schonbek has managed to deliver that idea of opulence in a chandelier proportioned to fit in your dining room.

My burning desire for an Artifact, the fist time I saw it, was sheer indulgence in romanticism. My husband fed the flames by demanding a William Morris style floral wallpaper in black and gold. And I gilded the lily by choosing flamboyant, satiny gold bedding to pick up the gold in the wall paper and the Etruscan Gold finish of the chandelier. What can I say? I have never regretted a single decision we made when throwing together this eccentric room.