Bentley Meeker, a Manhattan designer, has been in business for 30 years, creating lighting for events as diverse as weddings (he did Chelsea Clinton’s) and concerts (Kanye West, Aerosmith and Elton John are all clients).
Mr. Meeker, whose first book, “Light x Design”, calls light “the most powerful tool we have to create any feeling.”
When it comes to romance, he recommends candlelight. It offers “an uncontrolled sense of light” he said, but it “definitely creates a vibe.”
So on a recent frigid day, Mr. Meeker went in search of candleholders to set the mood for Valentine’s Day.
At Coolhouse, an antiques shop in Chelsea, he found a pair of adjustable candelabra from Denmark.
“These slide up to almost six feet tall,” he said. “How cool is that? I also like that you can move the individual arms wherever you want, and the satiny brass finish is naturally aged. It’s really beautiful.”
But he noted that such large candelabra would require an appropriately scaled setting.
“The more candles you use, the more intense the light will be,” he said. “People are always surprised by that.”
Two designs caught his eye at the Museum of Modern Art’s Design Store: the Ghost candelabrum by Jon Russell, which he praised for its “modern lines of Lucite” that mimic “a very classically shaped” candelabrum, and Martin Blum’s Loop, “because it’s chaos underneath but somehow becomes smooth and elegant with the four taper candles all pointing regally and perfectly in the same direction.”
At Christofle, he liked the Arborescence articulated candelabrum. “All the arms are the same height,” Mr. Meeker said, “and it won’t give off too much light. It’s also begging for a unique candle – a honeycomb would be great.”
And down the block at Baccarat, he picked out Marcel Wanders’s Forest of Dreams.
“The monochromatic nature of the design will pick up the candlelight and glisten very nicely,” Mr. Meeker said.
“I love that each component is removable,” he added. “You can put tea lights in three of them, and do shots with the other two.”
(ref. The New York Times, Rima Suqi)