Friday, October 13, 2006
If you’re redecorating extensively, and you have an interior designer, I’d like to suggest you make a trip to High Point with him or her, and visit the Schonbek showroom while you’re there. You’ll see a big display of Schonbek crystal chandeliers and lamps that are only available to the retailers and interior designers who attend High Point. This famous home furnishings market is in North Carolina, in case you don’t know about it.

A lot of people travel to High Point with their designers. Mostly they’re focused on furniture, but Schonbek is there so you can think about lighting at the same time.

I’ve been working on the catalog for the next High Point market October 16-22. The new crystal chandeliers are stunning. The new crystal lamps are exquisite. And there’s quite an array of styles. Wonderful romantic crystal chandeliers and lamps rich in color. And exceedingly chic contemporary designs as well.

The Schonbek showroom at High Point is staffed with people who are deeply familiar with the entire Schonbek line: rock crystal chandeliers, colored crystal chandeliers, classic crystal chandeliers, custom chandeliers and every lamp Schonbek has ever designed. So if you don’t see what you’re looking for in the exhibit, you can discuss other options.

I wish I were going to High Point myself. I’ve only seen photographs of the new products, and I’m enthralled. The chandeliers and the lamps in person would be even more enthralling.

I just might re-do my bedroom so I can justify the acquisition of two more Schonbek lamps. I have an Artifact crystal chandelier in this bedroom, and I’ll want to tie in with that, of course. I sense the onslaught of decorating fever. This is an occupational hazard when you’re continually exposed to Schonbek crystal chandeliers and lamps.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The crystal chandelier might be considered an antidote to a widespread social problem: inattention to life.

In the Byronic era, people called it boredom, and failed to take any joy in everyday experience. In the present day we say it’s the accelerated pace of life that leaves no time for anything.

In every era, people have a habit of getting tired of their lives and their surroundings, to the point where they hardly see the chairs they’re sitting on or the lamps that light their rooms anymore.

Cezanne solved this by painting as if with binocular vision, ignoring traditional linear perspective and giving us a left and a right eye view all at once. We’re always thrown off balance looking at his paintings, and we can’t not pay attention.

A crystal chandelier is playing games with our vision, too, dramatizing the reality that nothing in our field of vision is ever truly still, and warding off complacency with its erratic display of prismatic fire.

Geometrix™ high tech lighting designs go a step farther in engaging our attention. Not only is the brilliance of their dense crystal composition riveting, the geometric shapes they take are intriguing. They seem to be telling us something about the elemental mysteries of the universe, not in words but at a deeper level of communication.

When I go home at night and enter my house, I make the rounds of all the light switches (not having an automated residence). One by one the crystal chandeliers light up, and I enter a place of delight that’s both restful and stimulating. At home I am never bored.

Can I really attribute this happy state of affairs to the influence of crystal chandeliers? Why not? People talk about air quality as being vital to health and happiness. Why not the quality of light?

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

We had a visit from friends this weekend who have 12-year-old twin girls. The girls are great fans of Schonbek crystal chandeliers, dating back to their last visit to my house four years ago. I was pleased to be able to show them a couple of new Schonbek chandeliers in place, and lamps too. One of the twins is named Zoe, and she was delighted to hear that Schonbek makes a lamp called Zoe.

While most girls their age might ask if you had any good movies to watch, they asked to see the most recent Schonbek catalogs.

They were especially taken with Geometrix.™ One of the twins (I forget if it was Zoe or Hannah, they look a lot alike) stopped at the page with a Vertex® crystal chandelier and said, “Cool.”

Marketers, as you probably know, are keenly interested in the opinions of the very young. To find out if your product is hip, ask a 12-year old. So I was delighted by the girls’ continued appreciation of Schonbek crystal chandeliers, and Geometrix™ in particular.

We just updated the website, by the way, with a page showing still shots of Refrax™ shapes, linked from the Geometrix™ colors page. Refrax™ is unusual for its variety of configurations. You can have your Refrax™ crystal chandelier in the shape of a wave, a box, a triangle, an eye or a strip.