Uber Rich Fancy The Chandeliers

AT FIRST, they represented power, then extravagance, and today, indulgence. Chandeliers, the exquisite, multi-light creations that hang from gilded ceilings of palaces, have their beginnings in almost 700 BC, near Florence, where the oldest pieces have been discovered. However, it’s the arrival of the wax candle in the middle ages in Europe, which changed everything, and turned them into objects of awe and power, as they found their way into the domains of lords and royalty. “Used by Europeans in cathedrals and churches, candles and chandeliers protected people from the Devil, and the lords protected people from invaders,” says Régis Mathieu, founder of Mathieu Lustrerie, one of the world’s most respected chandelier brands.

“Those who had chandeliers, had light, and this was marvelously reflected in places such as the Hall of Mirrors at the Chateau de Versailles,” says the Marseille-born Régis, whose father Henri founded the chandelier company in 1948. “The light was reflected in quartz crystal, which made it a luxury good.” Today, the company’s chandeliers adorn not only the Chateau de Versailles — he also renovates classic chandeliers, — but also the Opera of Monaco (his largest in Europe), Lakshmi Vilas Palace in Baroda, and homes of industrialists in Delhi and Mumbai.

Today, in the age of electricity, chandeliers have not lost any of their cachet. Instead, they are high-value, handcrafted sculptures that go above and beyond lighting spaces. “It’s truly a piece of luxury,” says Régis. “You don’t buy a chandelier for the light — it’s for everyday pleasure.”

Mathieu Lustrerie has a large workshop in Provence at the Mathieu family mansion, an hour from Marseille, surrounded by three huge buildings, once part of an old ochre factory. With their red walls, wooden ceilings and stone accents, the spaces that took 30 years to renovate now house a museum of chandeliers, with 1,000 pieces from the 15th century until the present, and a park open to the public.

Régis’ base materials are bronze, and quartz crystal — what chandeliers of yore were made of — even for his contemporary creations. “When you love history, you can’t forget the present,” says Régis. “Otherwise, there is no tomorrow. I use contemporary work to preserve the art of making chandeliers. It’s the same savoir-faire: gilding, polish, burnishing, the play of light, sizing the semi-precious stones, and so on. So even if it isn’t fashionable anymore, the savoir-faire will still pass on from generation to generation with changing tastes.”

Extravagant Pieces

From his association with the Chateau de Versailles, Mathieu Lustrerie now has a contract with them to replicate a range of crystal chandeliers — each piece comes with a special stamp from the Chateau de Versailles — for sale (Price: €30,000). Even bigger than the chandelier at the Opera of Monaco, the largest chandelier Régis has ever created sits inside the stairwell of Swati Piramal’s home in Mumbai. She had come to Régis’s studio in France and expressed her love of Lord Krishna, and that her whole house followed this theme. Over lunch, Régis quickly made a few sketches and the design was born. It took over six months to make, weighs over two tonnes, and reportedly costs around €1 million. “It was a great adventure for me,” says Régis. “It’s made of bronze and crystal, and depicts my vision of the life of Krishna.”

In Vadodara, Régis has restored the ancient chandeliers that sit in the Darbar Hall of Lakshmi Vilas Palace. “These were chandeliers from France or England, it’s difficult to say, as they were from the 19th century,” he says. “The crystal was spoiled, as was the bronze. So we removed the crystal pieces, cleaned them, and left them in India. The bronze was sent to France, where it was gilded, the missing bits recreated, sent back to India, and reassembled.”

Régis’ more modern pieces, such as the one inside the canvas rooms in the main hall of the Bikaner House, retail for around €100,000. To add bling, he has encrusted the bronze tentacles of the jellyfish-like form with precious stones.

Along the way, Régis also invented his very own LED light bulbs, the Mathieu Lustrerie Evolution 5 and 6, two kinds of patented bulbs made in Taiwan resembling a flame, which last for more than 25,000 hours and use less than 1 watt of energy.

The Allure of India

Along with his workshop in Paris at the Place de la Concorde (besides the one in Provence), Régis has an office in India for big-ticket projects with UHNIs and for procuring quartz crystal. He works with interior architects and is in touch with descendants of Indian royal families.

“India is the most comfortable market for us,” he says. “There is a lot of new, as well as old money. India has a culture of palaces — there are royal families with historical ones. In France we have one royal family, which had a few chateaux, unlike India with its history of palaces. A chandelier’s best friend is a palace! Our cultures are more similar than we think.”