Da Vinci™ is the world’s first dishwasher safe crystal chandelier. We just posted the details on the website. I’ve really been looking forward to blogging about this, which I couldn’t do until Schonbek started shipping Da Vinci™ to stores.

The design of Da Vinci™ is ingenious, because creating a perfectly round ball from faceted chunks of crystal is no easy matter. Da Vinci™ is an engineering coup, as well as a thing of beauty.

The solution to cleaning it was equally ingenious. A Da Vinci™ crystal chandelier comes apart in sections like an orange. Because these sections are rigid, and each piece of crystal is well secured, the sections can be safely put into a dishwasher. The invisible framework supporting the chandelier is stainless steel, so again no problem with dishwashing.

Schonbek first worked with stainless steel as a frame material a few years back, when the King of Jakarta commissioned crystal chandeliers that would not rust in his challenging climate. Stainless steel works beautifully in contemporary designs where you can’t see the frame, only the crystal.

The results of dishwashing a Da Vinci™ are so spectacular, Schonbek decided to put every Da Vinci™ through a cycle just before packing and shipping. So when you take your Da Vinci™ crystal chandelier out of the box, it already has that fresh-from-the-dishwasher sparkle. You’ll probably have to wait months, or even a year, before it needs another trip to the dishwasher.

I still maintain that hand-cleaning crystal chandeliers is fun, and has a calming effect on the nerves. So I have no regrets that the Schonbek crystal chandeliers in my home aren’t dishwasher safe. But Da Vinci™ is pretty appealing. If you’ve got a contemporary interior, if you’d enjoy living with a big crystal sphere exploding with fiery light, and if you’re into saving time and labor, a Da Vinci™ crystal chandelier is definitely worth considering.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I should mention the other new video on the website, too. It shows a new design called Refrax™,  from the Geometrix™ collection. Go to the Geometrix™ videos page, choose your format and then select Refrax™.

Refrax™ is radical. We consider it a collection of crystal chandeliers, but in truth, it goes beyond any known vocabulary describing lighting.

A Refrax™ design is a massive light source densely composed of crystal, taking the form of a fantastic geometric shape. Refrax™ might be called extreme lighting.

Andrew Schonbek came up with the name. I think it works because a Refrax™ refracts light so intensely, it empties your mind of all other impressions when you look at it. It’s as if you’re suddenly suspended in a world of spectral brilliance. To see what I mean, do look at the video. Just keep I mind the actual size of a Refrax™, which is enormous, and imagine the impact a life-size Refrax™ would have .

Like a traditional crystal chandelier, Refrax™ is singularly imposing. And like a crystal chandelier, Refrax™ exists to display crystal. But this new design is really an experience without reference points.

Most lighting manufacturers would hesitate to go to market with a light source that is pure impact and, functionally speaking, pure potential. Refrax™ is a light source in search of   an interior designer with boundless daring and imagination. “Form follows function” does not apply to Refrax™. Function will follow form.

Schonbek believes that interior designers are bored with predictable notions of high-tech lighting. When high-tech lighting first appeared on the scene, it was a departure by its very nature. But now the category is filled with repetitive looks. Geometrix™ is a revolution against the expected, and Refrax™ is the most revolutionary element in the collection.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Let me call your attention to a new video on this website featuring the new Da Vinci™ crystal chandelier. Go to the Geometrix™ videos page, choose your format and then select Da Vinci™.

The idea of creating a perfectly round crystal chandelier seems so simple. But it’s not, by any means. When I interviewed Andrew Schonbek on the subject, he told me that many companies have tried to make a perfectly round crystal chandelier without success. Schonbek had to come up with a radical new construction method to make it possible. The methodology is unique, and Schonbek holds a utility patent to protect this invention from imitators.

But the skill required to make Da Vinci™ gives even more formidable protection. The design is composed of thousands of crystal octagons of different sizes. Every piece of crystal is precisely positioned to contribute to the smoothness and brilliance of what looks like a shimmering celestial body.

You can’t see through the dense mass of crystal, and you can’t really see any one piece crystal, because there is so much prismatic activity.

Da Vinci the man was a great inventor, and since Da Vinci™ the chandelier is such an ingenious invention, the name arose naturally.   Da Vinci™ the artist was often hired to design spectacular court festivals for the Duke of Milan. As an early master of special effects, he would surely have appreciated Da Vinci™ the chandelier, which is a clear example of the spectacular.

There’s no question this crystal chandelier has a primal appeal. But at the same time it’s highly civilized, a visual poem about the perfectibility of form. The same impulse that makes us stare at the heavens, losing all track of time, impels one to stare at a Da Vinci, totally mesmerized. I speak from experience. I was present at a photo shoot of Da Vinci™ in a loft, and several people dropped in to watch. They were spellbound by this crystal chandelier.

Da Vinci™ comes in comes in four sizes, 10 to 24 inches, but even a 10-inch Da Vinci™ appears massive. And by the way, you can custom-order this crystal chandelier in much larger sizes, if you have a cosmic vision and a vast amount of interior space to play with.