Mirror Mirror On The Wall...

Its all about the sparkle... And why shouldn't it be? Life is too short to inhabit perfunctory spaces with all the usefulness yet ugliness of a fluorescent light bulb! Give me warm and incandescent. Give me candles, give me mirrors. Give me sparkle!

I am currently having fun designing a pair of  pier glasses for the ballroom. A pier glass is a mirror which is hung or affixed to a pier – the wall space between two windows or two doors (called a pier as it supports the ceiling above). 

Above: An example of piers between two French doors very similar to our own.

Pier glasses are usually long and tall, fitted to the space, and are often framed or decorated to match the windows on either side...

It was a common decorating idea in 18^th century houses. This was because they were used to reflect candle light (thus often there were matching tables or consoles on the pier below the mirror for candelabras). Thus, beautiful and functional.

- Slight aside, do you know that modern diamonds are cut differently from 18^th century ones as 18^th century ones were made to sparkle in natural light and candle light, whereas modern diamonds are cut to better sparkle in artificial light?

Above: Examples of pier glasses in the reconstructed music room of Norfolk House at the V&A.

Below: Pier glasses in a ballroom (? In Spain).

Designers in the 18th century would design the pier glasses to match the room along with the furniture...

We have chosen to design pier glasses with arched or curved tops, as the repetition of the curves along the top of the ballroom feels less stilted than having rectangular mirrors... 

Above: Curved top pier glasses.

Below: Rectangular pier glasses.

We are having the glasses made for us to fit the pier between the doors. We will then have the glasses affixed to the wall and affix gilded crystal sconces on either side. 

I found many examples of framing and ornamentation for the mirrors ranging from the insanely ornate baroque to the more modest Edwardian. After some comparison I decided to base my design on this mirror, which although not Georgian would pass for 18th century...

The closest runner-ups were these two... 

I am going to adapt the shield design at the centre top to a shell in order to tie the design to the consoles which will go below.

Here were some other mirrors which we compared in choosing the prototype:

 Chippendale / Adams Styled Pier Glasses...

More ornate French baroque styled pier glasses...

Victorian / Napoleon III Styled pier glasses... 

and more modern pier glasses...

Bringing the whole sparkling look together...

Above: A Chippendale designs for a pier glass.

Below: His designs for matching consoles.

We designed the space in the ballroom specifically to accommodate two pier glasses and consoles, so right from conception the architectural skeleton of the room was correct. We had these consoles made as copies from a photo I took in a antique shop. Our carvers have done a pretty good job of it…

Above: The original Georgian consoles in the Antique shop.

Below: The replicas that our carpenters have made.

Above: Interim photos for approval during the carving process.

Below: The finished gilded pieces.

Above and below you can see the shell motif in the ornamentation, which we shall use on the mirrors to tie the furniture together.

The end effect will be something like this:

Below: Other such consoles...

Sparkle came not just from the candelabras on the consoles and the chandeliers, but from additional candelabras which sat on stands known as torcheres or torchieres....

Above: Chippendale designs for torchieres.

Below: A lovely pair that came up for auction recently (not Chippendale).

more fantastic stands, this one converted for electric lights...

So this Valentine's weekend sit down and relax in the most comfortable chair in your favourite room. Dim the lights and rid yourself of any harsh fluorescent ugliness. Light a candle in front of a mirror, share a glass of bubbles with someone special and revel in your own effervescent sparkly life.

Cire Trudon Candles...

Cire Trudon is the oldest candle manufacturing company in the world. It was founded in 1643. and was the largest wax-producing factory in the French Kingdom during the 17th and 18th centuries.

In 1643, a salesman named Claude Trudon arrived in Paris. He soon became the owner of a shop on Saint-Honore, which provided its customers with wax candles for domestic usage as well as church candles to the neighbouring Saint Roche parish. The candles were "home made", developing and building on a specific manufacturing process. On the eve of the reign of Luois XIV, Trudon established his first family-owned factory which was to bear his name and make the fortune for his heirs.

Claude's son Jacques took over, becoming a grocer and wax producer and joined the Versilles royal court in 1687 as the apothecary and distiller of Queen Marie-Thérèse.

At the time, wax was under high scrutiny. Carefully collected on the hive, it was bleached through a series of pure water baths that washed off all the impurities. Dried in the open air, the wax was whitened by sunlight. When burning, the flame lit the translucent edges generating the glowing aura of the candle.

In 1737, Hierosme Trudon, purchased one of the most famous wax producing factories of the time, which belonged to Lord Pean de Saint Gilles. Pean de Saint Gilles was then the official wax provider to the King. Drawing from the family expertise, Hierosme devoted his skills to the development of a vast factory. He produced a wax of very high quality, collecting it from the best hives in the kingdom and trading directly with the producers. The wax was then treated with the utmost attention: it was washed with the purest water after being filtered with gypsum, guaranteeing the highest quality. The factory also imported the finest cotton to manufacture wicks whose combustion was clean and regular. The Trudon candles, so white and so perfect, could burn for hours without crackling; their flame neither trembled nor smoked.

Maison de Cire Trudon furnished candles to the royal court, cathedrals, and churches over France. More than one hundred people worked in the factory during its height, now protected as an historic building. The company's Latin motto and blazon are engraved on a stone at the factory: a depiction of hives and bees bordered by the saying: Deo regique laborant (they work for God and for The King).

Maison Trudon still keep records of recipes and also the tools for wax whitening: 17th century wrought iron pans. The moulds used to form candles bearing the royal blazons still remain: “cierge paschal pour la Chapelle du Roy à Versailles, Bougies de nuit pour le Roy”… (“Easter candle church for the Royal Chapel in Versailles, night candle for the King”…)

Trudon supplied Versailles until the end of the monarchy. During his captivity, Louis XVI used the candles of his royal wax manufacturer. The blazon and the motto would be hidden under a layer of mortar to avoid the furies of the Revolution. Today it is still the candle provider for many churches, like Saint Roche in Paris, which has burned their candles since 1643.

The manufacture distributes its products in France and abroad. It makes vegetable wax candles for the greatest French and international brands such as (Hermes, Cartier, Dior, and Guerlain) as well as for palaces and high-grade restaurants.

WORLD Store...

We bought our Cire Trudon candle from the WORLD Beauty Store in Auckland. It is the Roi Soleil scent, which is modelled on the fragrance of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles -

"The smell of the vast wooden floors, vapours of wax from the candelabras, blended with the green wooded wake of coniferous trees and the sumptuous dizziness of incense, with a light ray of citrus".

We will have to build a collection, with a different candle for each room. There are 18 different fragrances to choose from!