Friday, October 6, 2006

Black crystal chandeliers are so trendy right now, various manufacturers are making them. Schonbek was the one to announce that “Black is back,” but now everyone’s saying it. As always, when it comes to fashion, you want to make sure of the quality of the product.

Some crystal chandelier manufacturers are simply painting their crystal black to get the look. This makes life easy for them, because they can use a lower grade of crystal and no one will notice. Fresh paint covers a multitude of sins.

Schonbek uses only first quality crystal, regardless of the type or color of the crystal. And the crystal Schonbek uses to design black crystal chandeliers is inherently black. Its blackness is not skin deep, but arise from the process of its creation.

Manufacturers who paint their crystal black have the luxury of   working with crystal that’s cut in a clear form.

Whereas true black crystal is difficult to work with. The artisan can’t see through it during the tricky process of handcutting each crystal and then polishing it by hand on a wood wheel. And so black crystal takes considerably longer to handcut than does clear crystal.

It’s not easy for a consumer to tell if a black crystal chandelier is a mirage or the real thing. When in doubt, buy a Schonbek.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

We sometimes add amazing new crystal chandelier designs to this website without much fanfare. This is because Schonbek is such a prolific designer. They have to pick and choose just a few chandeliers to publicize.

Anyway, Hamilton trimmed with amethyst and rose quartz gemstones is just such a new addition to the Schonbek collection. No national ads are running, no PR is going out, and yet this is a truly spectacular crystal chandelier.

I happen to have a Schonbek lamp with amethyst pendants. I enjoy touching them, although I shouldn’t do this because of finger prints. But the pendants are incredibly silky and cool to the touch. The silkiness comes from intensive hand polishing. The coolness is a mysterious property of the natural quartz itself.

I’ve been reading up on amethyst. The word comes from a Greek word that means something like “not drunk.” The Greeks had the mad idea that amethyst could counteract drunkenness. Optimistic advocates of this idea drank their wine from goblets of amethyst.

If you acquire this crystal chandelier it won’t be to save yourself from intoxication, but rather to indulge in an intoxicating experience of beauty. The large amethyst gemstones really are stimulating to contemplate.  

I’m rather focused on the amethyst, because I love it, but the combination of rose quartz with amethyst is an unusual feature of this crystal chandelier. Rose quartz is kind of a misty pink, and has romantic connotations. Amethyst is the purple color favored by royalty. So you have a rich association of ideas.

The crystal make-up of this chandelier is worth talking about, too. The arms are made of handformed crystal. The center column is an ornate composition of shapely crystal vases and globes. Finely faceted handcut crystal drops and pendeloques create a lot of prismatic fire, a nice contrast with the quiet sheen of the gemstones.

This version of Hamilton is only available at dealers authorized to carry rock crystal chandeliers by Schonbek. You can find a showroom near you right on this website.

Monday, October 2, 2006

I’m just not going to say that thing people say, “I can’t believe it’s already October!”

Time flies, let’s face it. Only yesterday people were twirling around in ballrooms lighted by crystal chandeliers dripping with wax. Wax from hundreds of candles was, in fact, a real hazard to fancy clothing in centuries past. People took to dancing around the perimeters of a ballroom to avoid the rain of hot liquid.

What a relief the coming of electricity must have been. No more wicks to trim. No more smelly smoke.

In my wanderings around museums, I’ve noticed that most antique crystal chandeliers have been electrified. Either the original owners were into new trends, or the museum now in possession decided to modernize.

It strikes me that a great deal of ingenuity must have been required to figure out how to wire the first electrified chandeliers.   It’s a tribute to the appeal of crystal chandeliers that their owners did not give up on them, just because of a revolution in lighting technology, but rather took a great deal of trouble to convert them into electrical fixtures.

Even today, wiring a crystal chandelier remains an art and a science. Schonbek uses extra thin wiring in the dainty arms of its tiny crystal chandeliers, and has special techniques to make the wires disappear in the glass arms of all-crystal chandeliers. Looking at a Schonbek crystal chandelier, you never think of the engineering miracles that go into making this lovely thing light up.

But Schonbek still has a soft spot for candle-powered crystal chandeliers. They will retrofit almost any Schonbek crystal chandelier for wax candles, provided it’s a chandelier with arms. And nowadays there are dripless candles, so you can dance directly beneath your chandelier if so inclined.