For our design inspiration today, we are taking a look at glamorous traditional style chandeliers.  Nothing else can so effectively create an air of specialness within a room like the right chandelier.  Since its conception several centuries ago, the chandelier has been associated with royalty, luxury, and grandeur.  Modern times and flat designs have dulled the sparkle on some, but we’re not focusing on those here today.  I’ve put together a collection of sparkling lights, both new and very antique, from quite large to petite.  All of them give any room grand appeal.

No longer are these statement-making works of art resigned to ballrooms and formal living and dining rooms.  They are for every room, including the kitchen and even your closet.  There is an endless selection of styles, colors, and quality to choose from, and I am not trying to show everything here.  This is a collection of some of my personal preferences, which except for a few exclusions, tend to stay clear.  This collection will inspire you.  If you happen to decide to invest in one of these, then I am happy that I facilitated your gift of luxury to yourself.  I’ve tried to select many that are available on the market as of when I post this.  Let’s take a look!

CHANDELIER DESIGN INSPIRATION

First off, we have Baccarat’s Solstice 36-light chandelier.  The Solstice collection builds on Baccarat’s iconic lighting design crafted in the classical tradition. This line incorporates downward-curving branches. The innovative silhouette has a vaguely plant-like shape, evocative of a weeping willow. The bell-caps at the ends of the branches imbue a graceful weightlessness. Each chandelier is composed of hollow branches in blown cabled crystal and curved scrolls, resplendently showcasing Baccarat’s masterful craftsmanship. The decoration is all cut in a diamond-point design.  Among the spiked prisms, Baccarat signature’s red octagonal crystal hangs discreetly.  This one is perfect for any grand space and is 74” H and 50” W.

Next, we have tradition with a bit of attitude in Baccarat’s Zenith Noir 24.  The traditional Zenith collection was modernized by Philippe Starck who used smoky, black crystal to reinterpret the classic style.  Maintaining the chandelier’s original structure and ornamentation, Starck added black shades lined with aluminum reflectors to magnify the effect of light on the black crystal.  Baccarat’s signature red octagonal crystal links to a spiked prism, specially designed by Stark.  The ‘anti-chandelier’ par excellence. Black crystal is the exact antithesis of the translucence of clear crystal.  Black imbues this classic shape with great power, revealing its sculptural dimension in a whole new way.  The chandelier is a truly decorative object, a dazzling sculpture.  Handcrafted full-lead onyx crystal made in France.  It measures 43” H and 42” W for the “short” model.

Be sure to see my post: Glamorous Luxury Design: Elicyon to see this entire exquisite luxury residence in London.

Baccarat Hotel Residences Petite Salon, New York.

Baccarat’s Zenith Comete 24 chandelier unites Baccarat’s storied past with the present-day thrill of technology.  The Zenith Comete is a high-tech version of the legendary Zenith model originally designed during the 19th century in a resplendent, shimmering form. The new 24-light Comete chandelier, like the earlier incarnation, drapes with exquisite geometrically cut clear crystal. Its source of luminosity is updated with state-of-the-art LED lighting. The glow of the chandelier is poetically radiant and vibrantly bright. From traditional incandescence to contemporary technologically advanced lighting power, the magnetism of this galaxy of light remains mesmerizing and stellar.  It measures 55” H and 42” W.

Morpheus London

Next, we have another grand scale design in the Waterford Ardmore 24-Arm Chandelier with Crystal Shades.  This multi-tiered chandelier features Waterford’s Ardmore crystal pattern.  It has an incredible amount of extensively cut and polished crystal cups, spheres, bowls, strands, shades, drops and buttons, which create a brilliant diffusion of light and color.   I love the crystal shades.  This is a classic statement piece for sure.  It measures 69″ H and 47″ W.

Steve Leung Designers Ltd

The beautiful multi-tiered Waterford Crystal Cranmore 18-Arm Chandelier features Waterford’s Cranmore crystal pattern.  Impressive and elegant, this model is smaller and more simple than the previous one but no less stately.  It measures 49″ H and 31″ W.

Chiara Provasi

So, the ones we looked at so far are new and obtainable from authorized Baccarat and Waterford dealers.  If you like the glamour of old-world designs, you can’t go wrong with an antique chandelier.  They are sometimes so extraordinary and exquisite in detail.  Just knowing the amount of time and skill that went into each piece makes them all the more special.  I love the shimmer and sparkle of crystal and gold.  My natural inclinations are towards 18th and 19th-century French pieces.  No one knew how to put on a show like the French Monarchs and their circle of that time who defined the fashions and set the standards for royal grandeur across Europe.

 Be sure to see my post:  French Chateau in Texas, to see this beautiful estate by Houston-based interior designer Kara Childress.

Here we have a very large Louis XV-style gilt-bronze and Baccarat chandelier from Paris, circa 1870-1880.  Most recently it resided in the grand foyer of the “Spelling Manor” in Los Angeles.  It is described as a “Very Fine and Palatial French 19th Century Louis XV Style Figural Gilt-Bronze and Baccarat Crystal Forty-Eight Light Chandelier. The finely chased gilt-bronze frame with scrolls, flower and foliage designs and with mask figures of Putti, surmounted with cut-glass prisms, pendants, and obelisks interlaced with diamond-shaped crystal swags. The upper wax-holders stamped Baccarat.”  Fabulous!  It measures 83” H and 60” W available through Jans & Company Inc. in Los Angeles. 1st dibs.

A Louis XVI-style gilt bronze and cut-glass thirty-two-light chandelier by La Compagnie des Cristalleries De Baccarat, circa 1890.  This fine chandelier has a gilt bronze frame with a tiered stem and circular band issuing scrolling candle arms with glass drip trays. The finest cut-crystal drop-pendants and beads hang all over and the body, terminating in a ball finial.  Stamped ‘Baccarat’ on the thread of the finial.  The design for this fine chandelier draws comparison to the chandelier listed as ‘Serie E.452’ illustrated in Baccarat’s ‘Tarif des Articles d’Eclairage’, published at the beginning of the twentieth century. It measures approximately 49″H and 37″ W available from Adrian Alan Fine Art & Antiques in London. 1st dibs.

Next, we have a superb late 19th-century antique “French Louis XVI-style, gilt bronze, and cut crystal, triple tier, multi-arm chandelier of exquisite craftsmanship embellished with cut crystal chains and prisms.”  It measures approximately 33” H and 34.5” W available from D&D Antiques Gallery in New York. 1st dibs.

You don’t have to have loads of crystals to achieve glamour.  The beauty is in the details of this “antique French 19th century, very finely chased gilt bronze (ormolu), thirty-five-light figural gasolier with allegorical figures of ebonized putti’s playing musical instruments.  All original mercury gilt in excellent condition.” (Electrified), Paris, circa 1870.  It measures 65” H and 52” W available from Jans & Company Inc. 1st dibs.

A “magnificent and palatial late 19th -early 20th-century gilt bronze, fifteen-light chandelier.  After the famous 18th century model by Jacques Caffiéri.  This wonderful chandelier centers on a baluster shaped open stem surmounted by scrolling foliage above three Putto, holding a bird, a bow, and arrow and blowing a horn. Below are three further Putto, holding a turret and flower wreath, flanked on all sides by scrolling foliage. Nine foliate branches each hold a conforming nozzle. The pierced base houses three doves. Fifteen-tiered perimeter lights complete this beauty.  The original hangs in Château d’Anet, a former French royal residence that now serves as the Biblotèque Mazarine.  It measures 52” H and 42” W and available from Charles Cheriff Galleries in New York.  1st dibs.

Traditional Style Glamourous Chandeliers 

That concludes our design inspiration for today, my friend.  I hope you enjoyed the traditional glamour of these fine chandeliers.

What do you think?  Are you inspired to add some sparkle to your rooms? 

Baccarat–   

Waterford–  

1st dibs Chandeliers– 

Thank you so much for reading along with me today.  Let me hear from you in the comments.

Have a wonderful day!