Friday, September 30, 2005

Schonbek crystal chandeliers are made in the U.S.A. This is a remarkable fact, given our global economy.

Most of the lighting industry is going overseas these days, not just for parts but also for manufacturing. This necessitates some compromise. Products get streamlined. Options narrow or disappear.

The Schonbeks are intensely and personally involved in design and manufacturing operations. They’re interacting all the time with their engineers, designers, production workers, crystal trimmers etc. A Schonbek crystal chandelier comes into being in a factory adjacent to the Schonbek executive offices.

When new crystal chandelier designs are being birthed, there’s a lot of excitement throughout the offices and on the factory floor. In companies where there’s a disconnect between design (on one continent) and manufacturing (on another), something is inevitably lost. At Schonbek, there’s no time zone and transport lag between idea and prototype. So ideas can be endlessly tweaked and highly refined.

When you look at a Schonbek crystal chandelier, there’s a richness of detail and a feeling of individual personality that you don’t get when operations are scattered around the globe. A Schonbek crystal chandelier has never experienced compromise at any point in its genesis.

Arnold Schonbek once said that a great designer must also be an inspired engineer. This idea is very much honored today in the making of every Schonbek crystal chandelier. And both these essential operations take place in the U.S.A.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

I went to a local farm to buy strawberry jam last weekend. It comes in teensy jars because the jam is made in small batches by picky people. It’s unbelievably good. I have to buy embarrassing numbers of these teensy little jars because we eat so much of it.

But the idea of small batches put me in mind about crystal chandelier production at Schonbek.

Schonbek is the largest manufacturer in North America, and yet the company produces crystal chandeliers a few at a time, rather like my precious small-batch jam. There is nothing mass-produced about a Schonbek crystal chandelier.

When you buy a Schonbek crystal chandelier, you have an amazing number of options. Considering all possible styles, dimensions and crystal types and colors, about 12,000 options.

This is not as mind-boggling as it sounds, because you’ll be attracted by a particular style of crystal chandelier, and then it’s just a matter of working out what size you need, what finish will complement your décor and what type of crystal you prefer (handcut, Venetian, Strass® etc.).

But the point is, you are customizing your Schonbek crystal chandelier to a very satisfying degree.

Most manufacturers of crystal chandeliers are, in fact, mass producers. You don’t get to influence the looks of your chandelier with these companies.

I personally love the way a crystal chandelier looks with a very dark frame. I was able to specify this with Schonbek.

So which crystal chandelier is more likely to become a family heirloom? The one mass-produced from ready-made parts, identical copies in existence all across America? Or the Schonbek crystal chandelier?

Well, this is a rhetorical question, and we know the answer.

Monday, September 26, 2005

I love Victorian novels and have probably read everything in print from that era. So naturally I was fascinated when Schonbek designed a crystal chandelier called Victorian.

The Victorians were interesting because they were grappling with all sorts of social issues and scientific discoveries that were turning their world upside down. Not unlike us, actually. And yet they crowded their homes with beautiful things and old-fashioned comforts, perhaps in reaction to the stresses they were feeling.

Victorian by Schonbek is a crystal chandelier that reflects many qualities of the Victorian era. The Victorians were great travelers, deeply attracted to exotic cultures and lost civilizations. This crystal chandelier shows borrowings from Ancient Egypt and Czarist Russia in the configurations of the castings.

But the overall impression is one of Sunday-best dressiness, a crystal chandelier positively dripping with crystal icicles. And there are old-fashioned crystal olives, too, a shape that had been neglected for many generations.

In Victorian society, passion was ever at war with propriety, and there’s a hint of that tension in our Victorian crystal chandelier. The prim and proper formality of the crystal trim contrasts with the voluptuous curves of the frame.

If you have a weakness for tassels, fringes and cut crystal candy dishes, you’ll love this crystal chandelier. On the other hand, you don’t really need to surround it with a lot of Victoriana. The Victorians were eclectic, and you can be too.