Heavenly lights

Chandeliers can be more than just an ornamental centrepiece of your hall; they can also be symbolic. They can be a marker of your wealth, while also being suggestive of a theme. This is what the Austria-based glassware and lighting company J & L Lobmeyr has to offer.  

The 196-year-old company, the one Thomas Edison chose to work with to create the first electric chandelier, accepts orders from India only on request. It recently made a four-ring, hand-cut crystal chandelier for one of its clients. According to the company, “The chandelier reflects the binding love of a family.” Their chandeliers are mostly hand-cut Swarovski crystal, finished in French gold, satin nickel or other metals.

Lobmeyr also provides chandeliers from their curate collection of five series based on your preferred style – Metropolitan, Contemporary, Lobmeyr Epoch, Early Modernity and the Glass Arm series. One of their historical pieces is an 18th Century-styled chandelier, called Schloss Hof, which can cost over £100,000 based on customisations in dimensions, number of bulbs, and metal finishes.

Another European company that offers customised chandeliers and interiors is London-based Juliettes Interiors. “We pride ourselves in offering only the best. Our items are mainly exclusive,” says Juliette Thomas, director of Juliettes Interiors. Her chandeliers start from £500 and can go up to £50 million. The most luxurious designs that she offers on her website are a Gold Leaf Swarovski Crystal Chandelier, which costs £111,621, and an Italian Florentine Style Crystal Chandelier, which costs £171,360.

The Florentine artwork comprises individually hand-crafted slender wrought iron, gold-finish leaves spread across 36 arms. Swarovski crystals, Murano glass flowers, and a defining hand-cut crystal sphere complete the structure, which stretches to 300 cm in height and weighs 300 kg.

For “extra large and oversized chandeliers” for not just living halls but also home bars, staircases and commercial spaces, Wranovsky is a reliable and experienced vendor. Based out of Czech Republic, their glassmaking experience comes from their 13th century ancestors.

They specialise in designing original Bohemian crystal chandeliers. One of their heaviest Bohemian crystal glass pieces, weighing 110 kg, is the Circulo. It is an elegant flush mount, “richly decorated with the highest cut crystal trimmings with high lead content,” according to the company. A diameter 90 cm x 93 cm in height Circulo costs €7,100 (excluding shipping charges) and varies with customisable specifications.

One of its best-selling artworks is Gaia crystal spiral chandelier made up of a combination of highest quality crystal strands and rods. They have previously manufactured similar chandeliers which have gone up to 12 meters in height. A diameter 60 cm x 240 cm in height Gaia costs €10,700. “The Gaia chandelier is a perfect chandelier for the staircase and it features a combination of crystal rods with optical effect with strands of crystal octagons,” said Jiri Wranovsky, Generalist, Wranovsky.

Next time you are looking to upgrade the luxury quotient of your humble abode or your corporate den, you know whom to find.