Friday, October 7, 2005

If you have a crystal chandelier hanging fairly low over a table, as I do, you will invariably have this experience:

A guest will enter the room, see the crystal chandelier and float towards it with a dreamy smile, murmuring words of admiration. Then, closing in on it, he or she will grasp or even massage one of the crystals, if not two or three crystals in succession. Such is the irresistible attraction of a crystal chandelier.

You, meanwhile, are silently groaning. You know that no matter how dry and clean that hand may be, it is human and therefore a little factory producing skin oil. That hand will leave a smear, a smudge or even a detailed fingerprint on the crystal!

Do you shout out, “Don’t touch my crystal chandelier!”? Or let it go? If you’re cowardly like me, you figure you’ll catch up with that smudge next time you clean your chandelier.

Most people who own crystal chandeliers employ cleaning professionals, and if that’s you, just give that expert the cleaning instructions on this website. I, however, am my own cleaning professional. So I get to enjoy a very intimate relationship with my crystal chandeliers when I clean them.

I’m guessing I clean them every nine months, and I use the two-glove method. I wear two white gloves, one dry and one sprayed with a solution of one part isopropyl alcohol and three parts filtered water. I caress a crystal with the damp gloved hand and then caress it with the dry gloved hand. And on to the next crystal. (Go to cleaning advice for our official description.)

In the process I savor the purity of the crystal, the sharpness of the faceting, the satisfying heaviness of the larger pendants, the detail work in the tiny rosettes, and so forth. I also notice and enjoy the richly variegated antique finish of the frame.

Moving slowly works better than rushing, when you’re waving your hands around amidst a multitude of crystals. And slowing down like this feels rather good, a nice change from a day at the office.

After you’ve owned a crystal chandelier for a while, some of your friends will feel the need to get one too. Cleaning crystal with a friend can be very companionable. Better than knitting, in my book.

So I thought I’d share this discovery, that cleaning a crystal chandelier can be fun. And the prismatic brilliance of the crystal after the cleaning is always astonishing.

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

You may have noticed that Schonbek has a large number of images on this website of beautiful rooms with Schonbek crystal chandeliers. They come from many sources.

Sometimes we notice a photo of a gorgeous room with a Schonbek in a magazine. Schonbek may not even be credited as the maker of the crystal chandelier. But we recognize our product, and so we get permission to use the photo. Magazines are a great source of good photography, because crystal chandeliers appear so often these days in professionally designed interiors.

A number of photos come from room design contests we’ve held in the past. Some wonderful photos were submitted to these contests by homeowners living with Schonbek crystal chandeliers. And we also photographed a few of the homes ourselves after the contests.

When Schonbek introduces new crystal chandelier designs, the chandeliers are not, of course, in homes yet. So we seek out beautiful homes to use as settings and schedule a shoot. We install, or boom in, a crystal chandelier appropriate for the space.

The curious thing is that we learn in round-about ways where Schonbek crystal chandeliers are hanging. Schonbek is a manufacturer selling to retail stores. So we don’t have direct contact with the so called “end user.” This is why Schonbek maintains a large customer service staff and invites customers and potential customers to call with questions. This is the reason for the free design consultation on this website. Schonbek wants to know its customers and have a relationship.

If you’re not sure how long to roast the turkey, you call your mother. If you’re not sure what style or size crystal chandelier you need, you call Schonbek. It’s something like that.

Monday, October 3, 2005

Crystal chandeliers look wonderful under high ceilings, but those who have low ceilings need not despair.

There are a number of Schonbek crystal chandelier designs that come widened and shortened to take less vertical space.

Interestingly enough, these compressed crystal chandeliers can be quite magnificent. Changing the proportions in this way lengthens the arms, allowing for a delightful density of crystal trim.

One example of this type of crystal chandelier appears in the Versailles collection.