Statement pieces: chandeliers that do the talking

Picture this: a castle ballroom, late at night. The space is bare save for heavy velvet curtains and an impressive structure hovering above your head – the source of a soft, golden glow. You look up and realise that the light is coming from about a hundred candles, held in place by a large, intricate glass structure that refracts and multiplies the flames. Just before you can move around to get a closer look, a drop of wax loosens and makes its way towards you at threatening speed.

Your eyes fly open and relief floods your mind at the realisation that you are, indeed, in your bed, and the structure above your head is a much more up-to-date version of the medieval chandelier of your nightmares. Because while the light fixture’s origins do indeed lie in the Middle Ages – evolved from the candelabra and Byzantine polycandelion – they are far from old school. We’ve scoured our Architonic database for contemporary chandelier examples that make a statement and equip even the most modest space with a luxurious feel. 

Let’s start off by highlighting structures that still take the majority of their visual cues from centuries-old tradition. Chandeliers that follow this style are usually at least three tiers strong and often made of elaborately shaped and carved glass or metal. Their fire hazard potential has been drastically removed by swapping candles for bulbs, but otherwise models like Barovier&Toso’s Magritte retain much of the original glory. With its delicately blown glass arms that echo surrealist imagery, Magritte aptly embodies the manufacturer’s description of ‘a cloud of light and blown glass’ – one that elevates an entrance hall just as much as a formal living or dining room.

If you’re a fan of appropriating tradition, why not opt for a colourful spin on the classic structure? While its four tiers remain intact and in order, ITALAMP creates a poppier version of the chandelier by bathing its carved crystal, metal and Swarovski crystal exterior in a bright red chrome shade. The result: La Beauté Rogue, which, true to its name, is a luxurious beauty in red that acts as a powerful contrast to a minimalist, modern interior, or pulls focus when juxtaposed with other bright tones. Minimalism caught your eye? Cattelan Italia may offer just what you’re looking for with the Poseidon chandelier. Once again, the fixture stays true to the traditional shape, but catapults the form into the 21st century with a matt black metal frame and bare lightbulbs to boost.

Making a statement is especially easy with chandeliers whose dimensions surpass all expectations. While the light fixture’s name in itself carries with it ideas of weight and size, models like Baxter’s Q2 hanging lamp redefine excess with their magnitude. Ideal to draw attention in large residential areas or even retail spaces, the Q2 or serien.lighting’s ZOOM XL 1 both need room to breathe, dropping almost two metres from the ceiling, but the effect defies description.

If that’s not enough, willowlamp can increase the size of its Spiral Trees chandelier to fit custom orders. Meant to evoke an enchanted faraway forest, the light fixture’s delicate pearl strands are available in multiple colours and combinations and not only diffuse rays for a soft and dreamy glow, but create an almost sculptural, floating effect.

While we’re on the subject: chandeliers that double as sculptural art pieces may very well be the ones furthest removed from the original form – but they also make some of the boldest statements. Whether it’s through an intricately constructed Eden flower arrangement by Windfall (tailor made according to a client’s brief) or futuristic bubbles shaped into Ilfari’s Tears from Moon chandelier, these fixtures will keep dinner guests guessing even after you switch the lights off.

Roll & Hill offers a nautical take on the theme with its Knotty Bubbles chandelier. Inspired by Japanese ‘packaging, buoys and shibari’, the hand-blown glass spheres are bound together with knotted rope and available in a variety of arrangements and colours that add a special shine and focal point to any interior.

For those that are looking to make a more streamlined statement, linear chandeliers walk the line in a way that is at least as impressive as their circular or otherworldly shaped counterparts. Arranged as a string of lights rather than grouped around a central axis, straight-forward fixtures like Tom Kirk Lighting’s 1.5 m linear chandelier or Universe Square with Drops by Quasar are ideal for illuminating display cabinets, reception desks or dining tables, and complement a modern interior thanks to their 1950s origins. Linear, yet futuristic: Welles Glass Long chandelier by Gabriel Scott. Its LED lights are enclosed in ethereal, milky glass spheres that evoke outer space – but are anchored together firmly in the present by satin brass metal arms to create an ultra-modern accent piece.

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