Huge Metropolitan Opera Crystal Sputnik Met Chandelier by Lobmeyr Vienna, 1960s

Renowned for his timeless mid-century modern lighting fixtures and decor, designer Hans Harald Rath revolutionized the crystal chandelier with his creations inspired by celestial bodies.

Rath was born in 1904 in Vienna into the famed J. & L. Lobmeyr dynasty. One of the world’s premier glassware makers and purveyors, J. & L. Lobmeyr is noted especially for its lighting and tableware designs. The family-owned firm was founded by Joseph Lobmeyr Sr. in 1823. In the 1930s, Rath assumed control of the company — the fourth-generation family member to head the business. 

As J. & L. Lobmeyr’s manager, Rath oversaw the company’s glassware and lighting designs. He created many pieces himself, such as the elegant Langenzerdorf crystal flush-mount chandelier and the Alpha series of hand-blown crystal tumblers, inspired by a copper beaker from the Middle Ages.

However, Rath was most known for his Metropolitan chandelier, designed in 1964, as a commission for the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City and as a gift from Austria to thank the United States for their help in restoring Europe’s post-World War II economy.

Rath worked closely with the Opera House’s architect Wallace K. Harrison, who had specific ideas about the chandeliers’ design. He presented Rath with a book, Le Ciel, by French astrophysicist Jean-Claude Pecker, filled with pictures of distant galaxies. Inspired, Rath came up with sketches of exploding stars and presented a model of the chandelier made of “potatoes and toothpicks.” Harrison was pleased and approved Rath’s design despite its somewhat crude appearance.

At the Metropolitan Opera House’s grand opening night on Sept 16, 1966, the audience gave a rousing standing ovation when 12 of Rath’s chandeliers ascended toward the ceiling. Each chandelier was a different size and comprised tiny bulbs and starbursts made of Swarovski crystals. Today, the Metropolitan lighting line continues to be among J. & L. Lobmeyr’s best-selling pieces. 

On 1stDibs, discover a range of vintage Hans Harald Rath lighting.

The venerable Austrian firm J. & L. Lobmeyr is one of the world’s premier glassware makers and purveyors, noted especially for its lighting and tableware designs. Headquartered in Vienna, Lobmeyr has won numerous illustrious commissions in its nearly two centuries in business, including the chandeliers for the Hapsburg monarchy’s Schönbrunn Palace, Lincoln Center — which is home to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City — and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Lobmeyr is still family owned and managed. The company was founded by glass trader Josef Lobmeyr in 1823. It thrived during the long tenure of his son Ludwig, who built a network of manufacturers and artisanal workshops in Bohemia — central Europe’s revered glass-making region, now part of the Czech Republic — and earned imperial patronage. (He also collaborated with Thomas Edison to create the first electric chandelier, in 1883.) His nephew, Stefan Rath, who took over as head of Lobmeyr in 1917, introduced modernist design to the company repertoire, contracting with designers such as Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos, Otto Prutscher and Michael Powolny to create tableware.

Lobmeyr has never been married to a dominant in-house design type. The firm has produced chandeliers and sconces in styles as various as neo-Baroque, Rococo, neoclassical (or Louis XVI), Art Nouveau, minimalist and “sputnik” mid-century modern. As you will see from the offerings available on these pages, Lobmeyr can bring a sense of grandeur suitable to any décor.

Find vintage J. & L. Lobmeyr lighting and other furnishings on 1stDibs.