July 4, 2016Fifty years after their debut, the sparkling starburst chandeliers hanging in New York’s Metropolitan Opera are still the most widely known and best-loved designs of Austrian crystal maker J. & L. Lobmeyr. But the family-run firm has a long history of — and a bright future in — making remarkable lighting, mirrors and glassware in collaboration with the leading designers of the day. Top: Twelve of the sparkling fixtures ascend to the gilded ceiling of the Met’s auditorium before a performance. All photos courtesy of Lobmeyr, unless otherwise noted
When the Metropolitan Opera opened its new hall at Lincoln Center on September 16, 1966, the first ovation of the evening was not for Rudolf Bing, the Met’s famous general manager, or for Thomas Schippers, the music master conducting the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra that evening. Nor was it for Franco Zeffirelli, the designer and director of the new production.
It was for the starburst chandeliers. As the light dimmed in the main auditorium, 12 sparkling crystal chandeliers ascended to the ceiling like upside-down fireworks in slow motion, and the audience burst into applause.
These were no ordinary chandeliers. They looked like little sputniks. Designed and fabricated by J. & L. Lobmeyr, a family firm founded in 1823 in Vienna, the crystal fixtures were a gift from the Republic of Austria, to thank the U.S. for helping to restore Europe’s postwar economy with the Marshall Plan.
After learning of the promised gift, Met Opera architect Wallace K. Harrison contacted Hans Harald Rath, the owner of Lobmeyr crystal, in 1963 with very specific ideas in mind. He sent Rath Le Ciel (The Sky), a book by French astrophysicist Jean-Claude Pecker filled with photos of stars. Soon after, Rath traveled to New York to show Harrison drawings of his designs for the lights.
In a recent interview, Leonid Rath and his cousin Johannes Rath, two of three members of the sixth generation of the family to work at the firm, recounted the story: “Grandfather arrived with his finished drawings all ready to produce them, and Harrison rejected them,” said Leonid. “Harrison gave him a second book, this one about the Big Bang theory, with telescope pictures of the stars, which he took back to his hotel room.
“That night, Hans Harald did his first sketches of exploding stars,” Leonid continued. “He fetched a potato and stuck toothpicks in it to show the potential of his idea. That’s how it started.” Harrison was pleased and at once approved the idea, though it would take years to manufacture the opera’s many fixtures.
A Suduca & Mérillou–designed dining room in Toulouse, France, features a sputnik-inspired Lobmeyr chandelier amid eclectic furnishings and artworks. Photo by Manolo Yllera
The chandeliers are of different sizes. The huge examples in the foyer were designed to be seen a half mile away — which may explain why, after 40 years, Lobmeyr’s best seller is still the Metropolitan line, specifically the one-meter-wide version of the foyer model, although Lobmeyr offers it in several sizes, shapes and finishes. The basic design involves a series of brass rods emanating from a central core, each festooned with tiny bulbs or starbursts made of Swarovski crystals. In fact, Rath explains, the Met project was the first application of Swarovski crystals for large-scale chandeliers.
Lobmeyr also did the wall sconces, the standing lamps, even a brooch for VIP guests at the opening.
Today, 90 percent of the chandeliers the firm sells are custom orders, from designers like Peter Marino, Kelly Hoppen, Haynes Roberts and Elliott Barnes. Its chandeliers can be found in the United Nations, the Kremlin, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Hilton in Paris and the Four Seasons in Hamburg.
For nearly 200 years, the crystal company has collaborated with leading artists, architects and designers of the day, including Josef Hoffmann, Oswald Haerdtl, Adolf Loos, Michael Powolny and Otto Prutscher, who have all created stemware for Lobmeyr (some models are still in production). One Lobmeyr ancestor was so obsessed with design that he co-founded the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna in 1864.
But quite apart from the collaborations, the firm has always been renowned for the quality of its crystal, its fine craftsmanship, its royal and imperial patronage and its inclusion in museum design collections around the world. According to the Phaidon book Classics, its 1856 wine glass is “the mother of the modern wine glass.” (It was the inspiration for Josef Hoffmann’s still-popular wine glass of 1917.) Lobmeyr also created the first chandelier using electric light, in 1883.
“That night, Hans Harald did his first sketches of exploding stars. He fetched a potato and stuck toothpicks in it to show the potential of his idea.”
Leonid, Johannes and Andreas Rath, the sixth generation of the family to work at the firm, in front of the Vienna flagship.
Lobmeyer continues to be a pioneer in design today. In recent years, the firm has been working on projects with contemporary designers like Matteo Thun, Ted Muehling and Helmut Lang. Muehling, for example, introduced the use of enamel paintings of butterflies and engravings of insects in the Lobmeyr Balloon drinking set in 2007. In shape, the glasses and carafe look modern, but the decorative motifs were inspired by the 17th-century artists Maria Sibylla Merian and Jacob Hoefnagel. In 2010, Muehling designed contemporary crystal tumblers with stripes of diamond-cut etched glass.
The three Rath cousins have different responsibilities within the business. Leonid seeks out emerging talents for new products and sells Lobmeyr crystal stemware to retailers around the world. “We work with our heritage, expanding old lines, but I’ve developed one hundred and fifty new projects in the last fifteen years,” he says. “You have a vision — and an idea about what feelings it should evoke — and then get down to the physical thing.”
Johannes is in charge of international sales and manufacturing chandeliers. He says he is “more of a metal person,” who specializes in custom finishes (gold and silver leaf, nickel, chrome, stainless steel and brass). Andreas does the accounting and runs the elegant and venerable 19th-century Lobmeyr shop in Vienna, which sells Lobmeyr chandeliers and stemware along with KPM, Nymphenburg and Herend porcelain.
The Rath men say they enjoy being together (Johannes and Leonid live in the same compound in Vienna). “No one rebelled,” Leonid says with a smile.
Some Lobmeyr Standouts
