HANG KEROSENE LANTERNS ON
STURDY BRANCHES FOR A RUSTIC
TWIST ON HOME LIGHTING.
Bring the great outdoors in and
experience the romance of roughing
it under the stars without the threat
of a kerosene-fueled conflagration!
The juxtaposition of the craggy birch
branches and banged-up kerosene
lanterns works well with the self-
consciously minimal hardware.
I passed on the ubiquitous swag chain,
instead opting for an exposed cord
attached to a fine cable, which reeks
of sleek contemporary Italian design
— and what better thing to reek of?
Photography by Matt Maranian; illustrations by Tim Lillis
Although the chandelier is designed
to hang from a hard-wired ceiling
junction box, the design would be
perfectly viable as a swag too, should
you be short on ceiling junction boxes.
» The ornate chandelier at
Graceland, Elvis’ home in
Memphis, features over 80
hand-cut crystals and weighs
more than 600 pounds.
» At a French opera house
in 1906, large pieces of the
chandelier fell and crashed onto
the audience. It is said to be the
inspiration for the Gaston Leroux
novel and later, more famously,
the Broadway musical, The
Phantom of the Opera.
» The earliest chandeliers were
used in medieval churches and
abbeys to light large areas. They
were simple in form, made of
wood, and illumined by candles.
Matt Maranian is a designer and best-selling author who lives in Brattleboro, Vt. A revised, updated edition of his
cult classic, L.A. Bizarro (Chronicle Books), is scheduled for release in spring of 2009.
