Michael McHale Designs was recently selected by Furniture New York in a juried competition to display a Tribeca Collection Banqueting Chandelier at the Furniture New York booth at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF at the Javits Center in New York May 19-22nd).
You can see Furniture New York’s newly re-designed and updated website by clicking here.
More on the ICFF later….
Did you know that over 95% of crystal sold in the United States is clear? We can understand that – clear crystal will always go with the colors of your room — and will pick up and reflect back a lot of that color.
But sometimes you may want to consider a bolder move. At Michael McHale Designs, we love color and use only the finest Swarovski colored crystal, which has clarity and brilliance unmatched anywhere, in our experience.
So if you’re feeling bold, let us know – We’d love to help you express that.
All of our modern chandeliers are on sale between now and April 25th! 15% off all purchases of $500 or more on our industrial chic chandeliers and modern lighting. Use code “glam” on purchase!
Tell your friends about our industrial chic chandelier sale, and check us out on Twitter and Pinterest!
Let Michael McHale Designs build you a chandelier, Mr. Keith Olbermann sir at long last sir.
Keith Olbermann talked with David Letterman on 4/3/2012 about his being fired from Current, and to help everybody understand the situation a little better he accepted full responsibility for the situation because he’s a $10 million chandelier.
Let it be said that Olbermann has no shortage of self-esteem.
David Letterman is in top form here.
And it’s great to see chandeliers in the news.
We really hope to be able to make a chandelier for Keith Olbermann that rivals the one in his imagination. Therefore, Michael McHale Designs has put the call out on Twitter requesting that Keith Olbermann commission a chandelier from us. The offer stands. Keith, call us!
See video below.
Olbermann: “I didn’t say, ya know if I buy a 10 million dollar chandelier you should have a house to put it in”. Just walking around with a 10 million dollar chandelier isn’t going to do anybody a lot of good (Letterman: “No”) and it’s not gonna do any good to the chandelier”. (Letterman: Right). Then it turns out we didnt have a lot to put [the house in] the chandelier in or a building permit and I. . . I should have known that. (Letterman: UhHuh) and it is my fault at heart. um.. .”
Letterman: “You’re. . . you’re the chandelier?”
Thank you Dee Kemper at Domoore Designs for joining forces with Michael McHale Desi
gns for a great cause. At this year’s Architectural Digest 2012 Show in NYC we teamed up with Domoore Designs to put together a gorgeous showcase for DIFFA’s Dining by Design Event.
DIFFA, or “The Design Industries Foundation Fighting Aids” (find out m
ore about this great charitable organization here) “mobilizes the immense resources of the design communities and has granted over $40 million to hundreds of AIDS service organizations nationwide”.
The DIFFA organization is outstanding — and the showcase, which included our new-for-2012 industrial chic style Tribeca Banqueting Chandelier — looked great (thanks to Dee Kemper’s amazing eye for design). We’ve included some pics of our Dining by Design showcase and look forward to future DIFFA events. We’re also very much looking forward to seeing the future works of Dee Kemper and Domoore Designs.
Hello everybody! It would be great if you checked out our new video which gives an overview of the background, inspiration and industrial chic style lighting aesthetic of Michael McHale Designs. We hope you enjoy it!
Just a quick reminder that this week and throughout the weekend we’re in the Architectural Digest 2012 Home Design Show in NYC, booth m-33 where we’re showing off – in real life!- our industrial style lighting and modern chandeliers.
Come say hi and check out our cool lighting and industrial style chandeliers, and see our brand new irrestistably priced Tribeca Banqueting Chandelier.
come check us out at booth m-33 and see our industrial chandeliers and lighting
Being that we’re very much into industrial chic design, architecture, and art – Michael McHale Designs (and our cool modern industrial chic chandeliers and lighting) have an ever increasing presence on Pinterest as “Chandelierical“. Whatever you fancy in terms of design: from modernist interior design, industrial chic, shabby chic, or repurposed what-have-yous turned into imaginative objects – Pinterest is a great way to find what you’re looking for or discover what you never imagined. So follow us and say hi!
While you’re exploring all of the images make sure to like and repin some of Michael McHale Designs cool modern chandeliers and industrial chic lighting which we proudly make in NYC and ship worldwide.
Source: michaelmchaledesigns.com via Michael on Pinterest
Marketing Magazine UK is reporting that Doha, Qatar is now home to the world’s largest chandelier. The chandelier, called Reflective Flow, was Designed by Beau McClellan, meanders 38.5 metres and weighs 20 tons. It now resides in the artrium of the Corniche complex of offices.
Reflective Flow, recently installed in Doha Qatar is the world's largest chandelier
This modern chandelier is comprised of 2300 individually hand-ground crystals covered with concave glass and coated with a reflective treatment.
Michael McHale designs has recently completed a (somewhat smaller) industrial chic modern chandelier installation in Doha, Qatar – and we’ll have those pictures up soon.
Fun fact: Qatar ranks #1 richest country in the world by GDP per capita ($91,379).
It’s not that bad!
Most traditional chandeliers hang from a chain which is attached to the central bracket of the junction box. This junction box and can take more weight than you’d think, (and our chandeliers aren’t all that heavy to begin with).
The designer himself putting the finishing touches on a chandelier installation
Most McHale industrial chic chandeliers typically hang from hooks in the ceiling (we have some exceptions to this such as pendants and other types of fixtures that hang by their own cords or with industrial tubing, but hooks are typical with our chandeliers). Different ceiling materials require different types of hooks (plaster, sheetrock, wood, cement, etc). Ask your local hardware girl or guy which hook is the appopriate hook for your type of ceiling. You’ll also want to verify how much weight a hook can handle, but in most cases even the small hooks are more than capable of holding the weight of a McHale modernist industrial chic chandelier or contemporary lighting fixture.
When handling a McHale modern chandelier or lighting fixture, try to avoid handling the optically pure crystals with bare fingers when hanging – a soft cloth or glove is suitable to avoid fingerprints that may obstruct the beautiful light. Not even a smudge should obstruct the pure light refracting from the Bohemian or Swarovski crystal. So take your time.
Notice height at which this chandlier is hung over table. Take your time when hanging the chandelier to gauge height, and dont hang it too high!
If you have any questions about your McHale modern chandelier, contemporary pendant, or lighting fixture – or need advice on proper placement — we’re always here to help.
Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design defines design as ” the process of taking something from its existing state and moving it to a preferred state.” This transformative process is what we focus on at Michael McHale Designs in our industrial style chandeliers and lighting and — as such — we are inspired by other design trailblazers. One of our foremost design inspirations is, without a doubt, Philippe Starck.
Pilippe Starck is an innovator of what has become known as industrial design, Philippe Starck, born in Paris on January 18, 1949, attended the Ecole Camondo and has been a prolific designer, architect, and inventive thinker in pretty much everything from clocks to yachts to furniture. Unlike many of his New Design & industrial design peers — who tend to make one-offs or limited runs — Starck often designs for mass production – and was an early designer to have signature work in Target stores.
here Starck juxtaposes metal and wicker in this gorgeous lamp. Notice (as if it were hard to spot) the innovative play on scale, as this is essentially a desk lamp rendered huge.
Starck commonly combines contradictory elements — such as wood and chrome — in his work, seemingly juxtaposing the organic with the industrial, and we draw a lot of inspiration from this aspect of his industrial design aesthetic.
Starck incorporates contradictory organic and industrial elements (here with a chair designed for Sutherland furniture via Grandeurblog)
Starck is quoted as having famously said “i don’t design, i dream”. The dreamlike quality of his lighting design is apparent in this punching bag and umbrella light. There also seems to be a kind of lighthearted and playful quality to some of his work.
Philippe Starck’s “Juicy Salif” fruit juicer design idea reportedly came to him while he squeezed a lemon over squid (the design of the juicer is shaped like a squid body). The Juicy Salif, made in 1990, is widely considered an ideal example of industrial design – at one point being displayed in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Starck has said that this item “was not invented to squeeze lemons, but to start conversations”. Functional art as conversation piece, we just love it.
Already arguably the most famous designer living today – we continue to look forward to seeing what is on the horizon with Philippe Starck’s contributions to modern design.
Just wanted to post this shot of one of our chandeliers gracing the lovely Bar Paya in NYC.
Truly Steampunk Chandeliers and Lighting? Probably not, but we possess similar elements.
Michael McHale Designs chandeliers have sympathetic elements with the steampunk aesthetic, but the differences are too many for our modernist industrial style chandeliers and designs to be considered steampunk.
Steampunk has certainly emerged as a design and artistic aesthetic. Insomuch as it can be concisely defined, steampunk is a mix of classical styles with rudimentary mechanical and industrial components and a dash of stylized high tech. The word itself seems to be a kind of play on “cyberpunk” where in “steampunk” the futuristic has been supplanted by the Victorian or Dickensian. This is an interesting development stylistically as our culture – with all of its accelerated and celebrated high tech accomplishment – seems to be looking in reverse for inspiration in style and design (the “hipster” retro aesthetic comes to mind, as does the myriad of filtering programs that soften digital images and give them a polaroid-y vibe, and in general there seems to be a longing for simplicity in the wake of the tech boom.) Volumes have already been written about this modern-turning-to-the-past-for-inspiration trend, and it gets academic and boring very fast – but steampunk has pretty cool elements that Michael McHale Designs is comfortable being associated with
Our lighting design is not without its steampunk elements – raw steel pipe and unhidden seams and fittings provide the strong timeless industrial feel that is central to steampunk. Our modern chandeliers are made of bold re-purposed pipe, with its beautiful wear providing a sense of reliability and resilience to elements that seems contrary to the plastic high tech fragility of our high-tech age. These qualities are, without a doubt, sympathetic elements to steampunk.
And that’s sort of where Michael McHale Designs and the steampunk aesthetic part ways.
Michael McHale Designs’ high end designer modern chandeliers and lighting fixtures offset the bold raw steel piping with the fragility and irresistable glamour of optically pure Bohemian or Swarovski crystal. This restaging, in our opinion, separates us from the genre of steampunk. Steampunk lighting typically maintains the raw industrial context. This opulent crystal in our chandeliers complements the raw steel piping perfectly, while spreading luxurious light across the room.
Perhaps the fragility of crystal isn’t entirely antithetical to the steampunk design concept, but we’ll leave that for others to debate. In the end, Michael McHale Designs seeks to create modern beautiful lighting incorporating the raw with the beautiful, and we think that the steampunk genre has a similar goal – so we’re content with the association whenever it’s made – even if our modern chandeliers and contemporary lighting are not exactly directly inspired by or reflective of the steampunk genre.
A good example of a steampunk chandelier. A beautiful chandelier made from a Model T steering wheel. From the stie VandM Vintage and Modern
We’ve found VandM to be a great resource on the steampunk design genre, definitely check them out.
Came across a great interior design resource called Dornob, their motto is “Design Ideas Daily”, and I’d say they’re living up to that quite well. Maybe I’m just a little late to discovering them, so if you’ve heard about them apologies in advance. I came across Dornob via their twitter (@dornobdesign), and they are a great resource for interior design ideas including but in no way limited to modern chandeliers. They’ve just got a ton of great interior design things going on there, akin to Apartment Therapy.
Spill Lamp by Yeongwoo Kim
Theyve got great lighting ideas and living walls and on and on it goes. Another great interior design resource for all manner of interior design applications – whether you’re an interior designer, an architect, in the market for the perfect modern lighting solution, or just a fan of beautiful things – Dornob seems to be another fantastic resource – and we look forward to seeing all the beautiful design elements they bring to our attention.
The lighting design and chandelier industry is filled with fascinating and ingenuous minds who never cease to surprise and amaze.
One doesn’t have to be an interior designer, architect, or lighting designer to appreciate great lighting designs — in fact, it could be said that the goal of any artist or craftsperson is to inspire awe or to create conversation among the uninitiated.
The Ekaterina Chandelier by Schonbek
We thought that we would be remiss to not acknowledge the legends, rock stars and trailblazers of our craft – who have provided a tremendous amount of inspiration to Michael McHale Designs in our modern chandelier aesthetic and approach.
We intend to make this a recurring multi-part series highlighting the ingenuity, innovation, and beautiful aesthetics of some of the lighting industry’s great minds – to show the breadth and depth of the chandelier design craft.
Today we start with one of the biggest names in chandelier design: Schonbek.
Schonbek is part of the Swarovski company, and was founded by Adolf Schonbek in 1870 in Bohemia, a location synonymous with the finest crystal. Schonbek is thusly renowned for rendering magnificent chandeliers with opulent and indulgent crystal.
The Schonbek Camelot - Indulgent Crystal Elegance in Chandelier Design
Early on, Schonbek manufactured high-end crystal chandeliers for a distinguished clientele in the most elegant locations – from Buckingham Palace to the White House. And that tradition lives on to this day.
Schonbek is renowned for high quality chandelier design incorporating Swarovski crystal. Schonbek pieces are a meticulously assembled classic, traditional, and elegant incorporation of metal and crystal into what could only be described as a perfect chandelier worthy of installations in the most prestigious locations imaginable.
Schonbek crystal chandeliers are the pinnacle of traditional chandelier design – and these chandeliers continue to inspire awe among designers and anybody who basks in their glow.
Michael McHale Designs is guided by an undeniably modern complimentary and seemingly contradictory incorporation of repurposed steel pipe with beautiful optically pure Bohemian or Swarovski crystal. While it may not seem obvious, these elements and this aesthetic is, in many ways, an homage to the genius and meticulousness of Schonbek.
Always at the center of our industrial chic lighting aesthetic is a never-ending stream of — ultimately unanswerable – questions: “how do we make the common uncommon”, “how do we make the hidden brought to the forefront”, “how do we transform the rugged into the appealing?”
In other words: How do we re-purpose, re-appropriate, rearrange, and transubstantiate (a word so awesome my spell-check doesn’t know it exists) the industrial into glamourous lighting conversation pieces?
Plumbing Hose Rules!
Many of our industrial chic chandeliers are hung by very sturdy plastic translucent plumbing hose. These kinds of objects fascinate us, as they are so functional – and so common – yet people are, by necessity, blind to these objects’ existence no matter how much we rely upon them in everyday life. These objects perform necessary (not to mention herculean) tasks of delivering our drinking water and cleaning our dishes and clothes – yet despite their utility (or perhaps because of it) they remain hidden from us.
Until now.
See what we did here?
Here is a link to an interview we did with the Queens West Villager, which covers our home base – Long Island City. Our neighborhood faces Midtown Manhattan on the banks of New York’s East River and for the past 15 years has become, along with certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn, one of the most important engines of New York City’s artisanal and design output. Long Island City sports cultural attractions (MOMA’s experimental art parish PS1, The Noguchi Museum, and some of the city’s most innovative new residential towers.
We’re excited to be a part of it.
We recently installed a rather impressive and beautiful array of chandeliers in one of our favorite little cozy cafes in NYC, Cranky’s Cafe (for a review: here’s their yelp page). Cranky’s vision was to incorporate an arrangement of McHale chandeliers into one huge piece, creating a gorgeous lighting impression that warms the entire space – without being overwhelming (ok, so it’s overwhelming – but in a good way:)
Steel Pipe Chandeliers with Bohemian Crystal + Double Espresso = Cranky's Cafe NYC
Before we forget — here’s Cranky’s Cafe’s Twitter page, for all you interior design Twitter followers who love a good NYC cafe that features modern industrial chic lighting. And really, who doesn’t?
McHale Chandeliers at Cranky's NYC
Modern Chandeliers Made in The USA
In the USA there is a lot of discussion about how to increase manufacturing in the United States, and how – as consumers – we can be more conscious of our purchasing decisions at the local, regional, and national level in order to support American small business. All Michael McHale Designs modern chandeliers and contemporary lighting fixtures are designed and made in New York City, using either recycled/epurposed locally sourced black steel pipe or made-in-the-USA hand-milled aluminum.
As a small business in the USA, we take great pride in our chandeliers, lamps, and sconces – and we guarantee the quality of our work and customer satisfaction. Not only are we supporting the resurgence of Made in the USA and Made in NYC. Incidentally -we’re also rather “green” and environmentally friendly - with a low carbon footprint – as no heavy shipping containers from far off lands are launched in our name, and we utilize repurposed and recycled steel pipe in our industrial chic lighting designs.
Whether you’re an interior designer, an architect, or just have all around great taste in lighting design – if you purchase one of our works of functional lighting art you can be proud to have supported an NYC business. We thank you for your consideration, and if we can be of any assistance or answer any questions, please contact us.
Greg from our midtown showroom Interieurs forwarded us this recent post from Apartment Therapy:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/color-therapy/a-loft-in-brooklyn-color-therapy-163784
This was a project that colorist Mark Chamberlain did in a Brooklyn loft, and the post is mainly about the walls (we love the fish in the bathroom). Still, we couldn’t help but notice the chandelier in the first shot. It’s a classic brass Banqueting Chandelier.
It’s a common question from interior designers and other clients inquiring about modern chandeliers and lighting fixtures when shopping for the right lighting. There are many indicators of quality in a modern chandelier, but the quality of crystal in a chandelier or lighting fixture is a good starting point for interior designers regardless of whether the lighting application is home or hospitality.
Our industrial lighting aesthetic largely incorporates raw industrial pipe and glamorous high quality Bohemian crystal – to provide a complimentary unified whole – so a heavy emphasis is placed on this high quality crystal to provide that signature Michael McHale Designs industrial chic beauty. Interior designers and other subject matter experts place heavy emphasis on crystal quality when making the purchasing decision for a modern chandelier.
At root, crystal is comprised of two basic ingredients — silica (sand) and lead. Lead is added to the glass in order for the light passing through to refract. Leaded glass contains from 5-20% lead content. Once the lead content gets above 20%, it is considered crystal. The maximum lead content for crystal is about 30%, which allows for greatest refraction of light. While that lead content tends to make crystal more fragile, this is less of a problem for chandelier crystals than it is for other types of crystal (decanters, stemware, etc.) which is regularly handled. Once the chandelier crystal is in place, fragility shouldn’t be much of a problem (assuming that you’re not regularly swatting insects or bats anywhere near your chandelier).
Lead content is only one of the factors that indicate crystal quality. The care taken during the manufacturing process of crystal is perhaps even more important than the raw ingredients in determining crystal quality.
Obviously, the raw ingredients are heated to extremely high temperatures. Left to itself, crystal will cool like a cake: the outer part cools quickly, and the inner core takes longer to dissipate heat. That differential in temperature means that the inner parts of the crystal cool off later than the outer parts, and that can leave very fine striations in the crystal. You probably wouldn’t notice them on first glance — you might even mistake them for fingerprints. But those tiny striations can distort the light passing through the crystal. Once you notice them, they will be hard to ignore.
The other thing to watch out for is bubbles. Cheaper crystal can often have a tiny bubble or two trapped inside. High quality modern chandeliers incorporate high quality crystal to ensure optical purity.
When crystal is free of flaw such as these, it is called “optically pure” meaning that light is able to pass through the crystal without being distorted by flaws. The manufacturer will control the manufacturing and cooling process so that each crystal cools in a controlled way. Quality inspectors will ensure that there are no bubbles or other flaws which would compromise quality.
All of the crystal used in Michael McHale Designs industrial chic chandeliers and modern lighting fixtures is optically pure.
Chances are, if you’ve heard of any “brand” of crystal, it’s Swarovski. My wife and I were recently on our honeymoon, and had a layover in Singapore. The first name we saw when we came out of the airport was Swarovski. They seem to be everywhere these days.
At Michael McHale Designs, we love Swarovski crystal. It is without a doubt the finest crystal available. The only downside to Swarovski crystal is, of course, the price: Having a chandelier with 100% Swarovski crystal can almost double the price of the chandelier or fixture. If price is no object, or if you have a particular interest in the resale value of the piece, Swarovski is the way to go.
Most of our modern chandelier, sconce, and lamp customers opt for our optically pure Bohemian crystal. This crystal is optically pure – just without the Swarovski brand name. It would take a very sophisticated eye to tell the difference.
A note on our colored crystal option in chandeliers and lighting – when it comes to colored crystal, Swarovski has no peer in terms of clarity and brightness. So if you order colored crystal from us, it will always be Swarovski.
Michael McHale designs aims for the highest quality in all of our industrial chic modern chandeliers and lighting fixtures – and we’re happy to answer any of your questions, so if any inquiries come to mind – just contact us.
Michael McHale Designs is happy to be working with Form Plus Function Contemporary Lighting. Since their start in Santa Fe in 1994, they have been one of the leading modern lighting showrooms/s
ites in the world.
As if that weren’t enough, Form Plus Function is also the United States’ leading dealer of Ingo Maurer , a modern chandelier and designer lighting genius – who needs no introduction in the designer lighting and interior design world– but is also a great name to know for anybody interested in design (and pretty things in general), We’ve posted some of Maurers work here for your perusal, including a beautiful piece he did that has a butterfly and dragonfly gracefully landing on a beautiful bulb – great concepts delivered with elegant simplicity is signature Maurer.
We are so very proud to have our chandeliers and designer lighting fixtures alongside such functional art at the wonderful showcase at Form Plus Function. We just love Form Plus Function’s dedication to contemporary lighting and the embracing of eclectic collection
s. They have a great site sorted by category for easy selection based on your particular lighting application or project, friendly & knowledgeable service, and a tremendous selection of the most innovative modern lighting designs imaginable.
Our industrial-chic modern lighting designs have an ever-increasing presence on Amazon as we continue to bring contemporary and beautiful lighting to the world.
Our lighting appeals to a sophisticated aesthetic, and we continue to believe that there is the demand for sophisticated products such as ours goes far beyond the reach of fancy showrooms in big cities. The Internet in particular will be an increasingly important resource for people in need of distinctive lighting, and who are not satisfied with the sameness of what may be on offer in their locality.
I’m very proud that none other than Grace Bonney @designsponge did a piece on our design aesthetic, stating that — to her — our work “combines favorite elements: something a little industrial meets something majorly glam (they remind me of a more industrial version of the cellula chandelier). In the design world, Grace Booney and Design Sponge require no introduction.
The comments section at Design Sponge is an inspiration as well, one commenter states “I wish I had a great big deck and a garden because this chandelier looks awesome in my imaginary backyard 
”. It’s nice to know that your work inspires imaginations.
(sidenote: unfortunately the link to us on Design Sponge has not been updated, as we are now at http://www.michaelmchaledesigns.com. We’re trying to get that fixed.)
Reiko Feng Shui Interior Design with Modern Lighting
We’ve really been loving what we see with Reiko Feng Shui Interior Design for inspirational intelligence in interior design. Reiko Gomez brings to design a modern sophistication with clean lines – all filtered through a refreshing feng-shui-informed understanding of space and color.
Reiko masterfully creates harmonious environments, and manages somehow to blend modern sophistication and playfulness. Don’t ask us how, we’re still trying to figure it out.
Reiko Feng Shui Mastery lit by a McHale Chandelier
To peruse Reiko’s blog – and see the work on her site (like this restaurant project in Beijing) - is to have an opportunity to see through the eyes and hear the thoughts of a masterful feng shui interior designer, and it’s a constant inspiration and education for us in our chandeliers and modern lighting aesthetic.
We look forward to seeing the great things Reiko Feng Shui Interior Designs accomplishes in the future, and we are so proud that some of our modern lighting fixtures have been included in her work (as seen above).
Nirmada Modern Residential Interior Design NYC Apartment
The team here at Michael McHale designs are big fans of Kati Curtis — founder of Nirmada – and an ASID, CID, LEED AP ID&C certified interior architectural designer in NYC. Kati has been featured in print and online in USA Weekend, The Wall Street Journal, and Bobvila.com. Nirmada’s design aesthetic has an irresistable modern sustainable sophistication (and you know we love that - as its such a great fit for our modern lighting aesthetic). Nirmada’s interior architectural designs have graced luxury residential, hospitality & corporate, healthcare and institutional applications.
Kati’s blogDesign Life is a phenomenal resource covering all facets of modern design and corollary interests: from modern art, architecture, furniture design, all the way down to the age-old NYC question of space utilization.
For apartments that don’t have a dedicated room for dining, Kati uses a McHale industrial collection mini-banqueting chandelier to demarcate the space as a separate area.
The 2012 Architectural Digest Show will be held on March 22nd to March 25th on Pier 94 on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan.
After an absence of a few years, we are planning on having a booth this year in the MADE Section, which is dedicated to people making artisanal furnishings, lighting and objets d’art which they sell themselves.
More details coming soon!
I recently returned from my honeymoon. It was two weeks in Cambodia, which was everything you can imagine it was.
Anyway, part of our trip was at the Sokha Beach Hotel in Sihanoukville on Cambodia’s Eastern shore on the Gulf of Thailand, which for those four days may have well been Hawaii. It was just beach, pool, restaurant, and a nicely air-conditioned room.
Anyway, they had a super-grand entry, and I couldn’t help noticing the chandelier:
The shades and the traditional co-centric rings work perfectly.
This room was actually open-air. The photographer is standing outside. Being in a tropical climate is great for this sort of thing.
Congratulations to Moscow’s Upside Down Cake Company, which celebrated its one-year anniversary this week. One of Michael McHale’s biggest-ever commissions, The Upside Down Cake Company has nine Industrial Collection pieces — two large chandeliers, six pendants and a sconce.
Sorry I missed the party (though not too sorry — I was on my honeymoon at the time in Cambodia):
Uber-hip Japanese clothing retailers Moussy have made a pop-up appearance in Manhattan’s trendy Meatpacking District, with an instant store lasting only as long as Autumn in New York.
The Moussy Pop-Up Store features five Michael McHale Designs Tribeca Collection Bar Chandeliers and Pendants, adding that hip industrial touch.
Wooden Swings on rope with exposed brick walls and provocative lithographs set the tone.
Nothing is worse for wear from the opening night party, appropriately hipster’ed and DJ’ed out, as one would expect.
Uptown meets downtown. Gas pipe meets Swarovski.
If you have hallway in need of illumination, consider one of the pendants from Michael McHale Designs.
Are you looking for an unforgettable and unique wedding gift?
Consider a pendant, lamp or chandelier from Michael McHale Designs.
And for couples wishing to add a piece to their wedding registry such as Honeyfund or MyRegistry.com, you can add the URL of the piece you’re interested in to your list in those websites, and it all should work out just great.
If you’re ordering something from the Industrial Collection or the Bryce Collection, make sure we get those orders at least eight weeks before the event. Tribeca pieces usually ship within a week of ordering.
When Michael McHale Designs first introduced the McHale Desk Lamp about a year ago, we took a large bet that the evocative design and unique footprint would be a big hit. At the time, they we made them as halogen lamps and their fabrication was tricky enough for them to be outsourced. We therefore needed to order them by the dozens, and their price point was rather high (over $1,100).
We’re now proud to say that we have officially sold out of that original batch, and are about to introduce an updated version of the design.
The New McHale Desk Lamp will be an incandescent, rather than a halogen, lamp, and will be available with or without crystals. It will also be a few inches shorter than the original design and will be available at a far lower price point.
To pre-order the new McHale Desk Lamp at a 10% discount over the already lower price, please email info@michaelmchaledesigns.com with the word NEW (in all caps) in the subject line.
Today we got a great recommendation from Nicole Boxer who recently purchased two Tribeca Bar Chandeliers, which now hang in her Washington DC kitchen.
Nicole is the daughter of Senator Barbara Boxer of California, is a film and television producer. She was recently the consulting producer on the reality series Food Revolution (on ABC), which follows British chef Jamie Oliver as he tries to garner a revolution in school lunches
Her IMDb entry notes that Nicole’s wedding to Hillary Clinton’s brother Tony Rodham in 1994 was the first wedding to take place in the White House since Tricia Nixon in 1971.
You can read Nicole’s thoughts on her two MMD chandeliers on our Testimonials Page.
[Text from Luxury Home Quarterly article:]
THE BANQUETING CHANDELIER
One of McHale’s hallmark pieces, The Banqueting Chandelier, centers itself around a capital “H” of either brass or black steel draped in crystals, creating no less than seven corridors of crystal and light. Each piece is hand-crafted and customized – including finishes, crystals, and hanging height – to client specifications, making every one an instant contemporary heirloom.
THE MCHAEL DESK LAMP
As much a sculpture as it is a light, the McHale Desk Lamp consists of three simple constructions of black steel pipes and fittings, set in parallel. At the top of the piece are four inset bulbs, which light up a random array of crystal, creating a burst of refracted light. The result is a singular architectural form evocative of industry, water, and the forgotten elements of the built environment. McHale Desk Lamps are not just for desks – put them on end tables, or anywhere that could use a dose of industrial glamor.
MICHAEL McHALE DESIGNS
Less than four years ago, lighting designer Michael McHale was working as an entertainment attorney, putting in long days while struggling with an untapped need to express his inner creativity. Fate intervened when, during an unsuccessful trip to purchase a lighting fixture for his home, McHale decided he could create something better than what was available. Michael McHale Designs was officially born.
Inspired by the materials in the hardware store, McHale began working on his vision for a simple lighting fixture with an new form. “My first pieces made themselves,” he says. “Using distressed elements such as pipes and fittings for a purpose they were not intended [for] created exactly the industrial-chic look I’d envisioned.”
McHale officially founded his business in New York City in late 2007 and began his handmade-to-order lighting line with a series of unconventional chandeliers, which remain the centerpieces of his work. Recently, he has added sconces and lamps to the line as well, including his personal favorite, The McHale Desk Lamp, which has been called “a triumph of scale and form.”
“I try to pay special attention to detail and craft my pieces to be beautiful, whether they are illuminated or not,” McHale says. “They are are elegant and modern works of art that have created a new lighting aesthetic my melding diverse elements in an unexpected way.” – JULIE EDWARDS
A nice write-up from Veronika Miller at Modenus.
“Great design is about great resources and about finding new ideas with which to inspire clients and ourselves for that matter. What we love even more than sharing great designs with you, is when you share them with us. Shelley, researcher extraordinaire at The Daily Basics was nice enough to introduce me to Michael McHale Design on Twitter this morning and I didn’t want to waste a minute before re-sharing this little treasure with our readers. Thanks Shelley.”
Read more here.
Awarded a Green Apple for environmental responsibility:
