Most outsiders are enamoured by Paris, but Regis Mathieu cannot spend more than a few days here. The man heading French chandelier brand Mathieu Lustrerie is itching to go home by Day 3, he says, as we wait at Gare de Lyon for the train to Avignon. I, on the other hand, am still taking in the city’s beauty, clichéd as it may sound. But when we alight at Avignon after three hours, I am greeted by azure skies and fresh air, something I hadn’t realised I had missed in cold, grey Paris.
“Avignon is a lovely place,” says Mathieu, pointing towards the horizon. “There’s the Palace of the Popes, and lavender fields… but, we must go now.” And as abruptly as that we’re packed into cars for another hour’s ride further south. We’re headed to the little-known town of Gargas, once home to a thriving ochre industry, with a few quarries still operating today. The ochre mineral mines of Broux, in Gargas, have been turned into a little monument that offers guided tours and trivia of the history of mining in the region — and that’s the only activity you’ll find here. But Mathieu, who calls Gargas home, is hoping to change that. He hopes to put his home on the map by bringing his collection of antique chandeliers into the public eye with Mathieu Museum.
Lustre Niagara: another of Regis Mathieu’s opulent creations.
Just across the road from his old home, where his atelier is built into the annexe, is the building Regis calls his museum. The walls are stained ochre, a tribute to his hometown. It is sunset when we walk in, and Regis and his wife switch on the lights. Across a large wood-panelled wall run glass windows, and from here the rest of Gargas is visible — red-roofed houses and green hillocks. And then there is light. First, a stiff, dress-shaped chandelier, the LM Robe, made of crushed quartz lights up, behind it is a traditional Russian chandelier, pyramid-shaped with delicately worked, upright brass candle-holders. Next to it is an unusual chandelier made of crystals and shaped like a ship, sourced from, of all places, Chor Bazaar in Mumbai. “I saw this one in Chor Bazaar and the person refused to sell it to me. But me, when I see something, I want it! I went back three times before he sold it to me,” Mathieu says. He has many stories like these, for each of the 250 pieces on display at the museum.
The family business was started in 1948 by Henri Mathieu to restore and design chandeliers. After his untimely death, Regis Mathieu’s mother ran the company while he finished business school. Having never formally studied design or architecture, Mathieu is mostly self-taught, and he believes that thanks to business school, he managed to revive a flagging company. Today, Mathieu Lustrerie has some of the biggest names on its client list. From the chandeliers at the famed Galerie de Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) at the Château de Versailles, to the Opera Garnier in Paris, to the Laxmi Vilas Palace in Baroda, the chandeliers sparkling in all these beautiful places owe their glow to Mathieu Lustrerie. But it’s not just restoration and replication that Mathieu wants to do — after growing up with historic chandeliers, he quite naturally took to designing his own, and that’s where all his creativity is channelled.
If traditional and antique chandeliers were all about symmetry and shine, Mathieu’s later works are all about subverting that light into unusual creations. Like the Jellyfish, where bronze is worked to look like exotic sea creatures and semi-precious stones diffuse the light, or the obviously titled Cube, where thousands of little pieces of hewn rock crystal are put together to create a five foot tall cubic chandelier that hangs from the ceiling. Inspiration for his original creations are varied and far removed from the traditional antique ones. While antiques are made with bronze, metal and crystal — things that would amplify the shine and make it brighter — Regis now works with rock crystals, metal, and electric candles for a subtle, subdued effect. According to him, chandeliers used to be a symbol of wealth, a way to show off that you could afford to spend precious wax on extravagant lighting, which is why they were always placed in front of mirrors, to double the light, and in front of a window, so that others could see. Today, while it may not be needed for light, chandeliers are still an extravagance, a piece of jewellery for your home. While his restored chandeliers lie in hallowed places, his modern creations have suitably modern meccas to call home — the Cartier boutique on Champs Elysée, the Hermès store in New York, the Shangri-La in Paris, Tarun Tahiliani’s store in Delhi, and many more.
One of Regis Mathieu’s most popular creations, Love. The four letters are spelled out with 118 electric candles set in a silver-plated bronze frame.
One of Mathieu’s most popular creations is Love, where the four letters are spelled out with 118 electric candles set in a silver-plated bronze frame. If you’ve ever wondered what to gift someone who has it all, one of these fantastically extravagant chandeliers could be the answer.
elizabeth.mathew@thehindu.co.in
