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Have a Ball! From crystal-covered elegance to plywood construction, chandeliers are recreating their niche in the lighting category  Image courtesy Design Within Reach A chandelier is just a source of light like a sofa is just a place to sit. Regardless of their size or aesthetic, chandeliers never blend in with the background - organic or crystal, colorful or muted, chandeliers are born to be noticed. Over the past five years, color has started to play a more important role in home lighting, says Eileen Schonbek Beer, the creative director of Schonbek Worldwide Lighting Inc., Plattsburgh, N.Y. So creating a LED chandelier that offered a color light show was the next obvious step for the company, with the end result being the Da Vinci LED, a perfectly round sphere of crystal that's available at either 3- or 5-feet in diameters and offers a continuous light show. "We took the chandelier one step further, using light in formal settings to create a different kind of experience," Schonbek Beer says. The light show can be programmed to music and rhythms, and can be customized and tailored to the homeowners' lives. Organic, earthy elements are undoubtedly growing increasingly popular in all areas of life, and the home-lighting category is no exception. From conception to creation to even shipping, David Trubridge, a New Zealand-based woodworking designer, embodies the green movement in his line of oversized lighting fixtures. Inspired by the unique patterns of Antarctica ice crystals and of underwater coral, his Coral Pendant echoes the simple minimal elements found in nature and amplifies them in an oversized lighting framework. Made from Australian sustainable hoop pine untreated plywood, Trubridge's design is shipped unassembled to reduce packing materials. |
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