Crystal Chandeliers

They add authentic atmosphere to the restoration of an old house, a touch of opulence to a modern home or an ultra-modern loft space. They can make a style statement in any room of the house, from hallways to open-plan living areas, kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms and even kitchens. Crystal chandeliers have been the signifier of luxury and taste for centuries, and they are now being developed for smaller spaces.

History of chandeliers:

The earliest chandeliers were used in medieval churches and abbeys to efficiently illuminate large halls, and also keep the burning lights out of the way of the people crowding the space. Wouldn’t want to get your robes caught by a candle at a party …! They generally took the form of a wooden cross with a number of spikes on which candles could be secured. People would light the chandelier on the ground, and then use a hook fixed to the ceiling to hoist the chandelier up and fix it there for the duration. They also had to have bowl or cup shaped apparatus fixed to them, so that hot wax was not constantly dripping down people’s necks!

From the 15th century, more complex forms of chandeliers based on ring or crown designs began to become popular decorative features, found in palaces and the homes of the very wealthy. Of course nowadays, chandeliers are much more readily available to anybody – they have lost the enormous price tag, but retained that huge sense of style.

By the early 18th century, ornate cast brass forms with long, curved arms and many candles could be found in the homes of most of the merchant classes. Later in this century technology developed to allow lead crystal to be produced fairly cheaply, and this is when the beautiful crystal chandeliers began to be made. People also discovered, around this time, that crystal could be used to distribute light in gorgeous patterns, or simply useful patterns, around a room – so crystals in chandeliers were placed strategically and cut specially.

Chadeliers became more and more popular around this time, until gas and electric lighting became widespread and cheap enough that the chandelier was no longer necessary. By then, there were many, many people who were fed up with cleaning tiny fiddly crystals, without the benefit of specially formulated glass cleaner either!

In this category of our website you will find ceiling, wall, table and floor crystal lights, in a huge variety of shapes, styles and colours. They are produced with various materials , however the most usual set up is a combination of metal arms and crystal pieces. We don’t stock too many wood and candle ones! The nickel finish has now become very popular as it gives the chandeliers and other types of lights a clean, crisp appearance.

Chandelier Parable:

 

The Chandelier

(adapted by Gedaliah Fleer from the stories of Rebbe Nachman)

The Rebbe told: Once there was a young man who travelled through many distant countries in search of a master craftsman from whom he could learn a trade. After a while he returned home and announced to his family that he had become an expert designer of chandeliers. "I have become so talented in my new-found trade," he explained, "that my work far surpasses even the greatest masterpieces of my teacher." Then, realizing that the family was a bit dubious about the measure of his success, he asked his father to invite the leading chandelier craftsmen in the city to view a sample of his own creation.

The craftsmen came and carefully examined the young man's work. They all agreed that they had never before laid eyes on such a monstrosity. "It's a disgrace to our entire profession," said one, "though this particular piece right here is quite good." "It's absolutely hideous," said another, "but that particular piece over there is excellent." "It should be burned," said a third, "so that others need not suffer the experience. However," he added, "that piece there is perfection itself."

When they had gone, the young man approached his father and said, "Now you know that I was not exaggerating at all, I am indeed the master of all master craftsman." His father looked at him in bewilderment. "What do you mean?" he exclaimed. "You heard their conversation, your chandelier is a monstrosity!" "I heard," replied the young man. "However, did you notice that each of the craftsman admired a particular piece of my work, but no two craftsmen admired the same piece. For when I was abroad I studied the work of each of these men. Then I decided to make a chandelier which combined all of their imperfections. Today you saw every craftsman recognize the imperfections of his associates, while pointing to his own mistake and seeing it as nearly perfect."

Rebbe Nachman concluded this parable by stating: "If a man could know all the possible imperfections and shortcomings of a given thing, then he would also know the exact makeup and appearance of that same thing in its perfect state, though he had never seen it before."

 

Ah, chandeliers – they provide light for the mind as well as the eyes.