Crystallize•Me is a curated offering of luxury crystal living concept that inspires a unique and discerning lifestyle for selective individuals

Crystallize•Me (Pronounce “Bao Xi Lai” in Chinese) luxury crystal brand that includes lighting fixtures, chandeliers, gifts, jewellery, decorative objects and bespoke art pieces are setting the pace for luxury crystal living in the major cities of China.

Our Chinese name “Bao Xi Lai” (which implies ‘Imperial Luxury’) was originally a lighting importer only showcases European crystal chandeliers from Czech Republic to France, it has now grown to include selective crystal products made from the finest crystals available. Products such as glassware from Britain to Poland; designer home décor from United States to Italy etc. Crystallize•Me is bringing this unique crystal product experience under one roof, namely the “Bao Gallery”. The company has been re-modeling their traditional lighting showroom into this new Bao Gallery concept since 2010 (10 years since entering into the mainland China market). Oliver Ma, Managing director for sales and operations said, “We are now operating in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Chengdu”. Elaine Tsang, the gallery manager in Hong Kong who has been with the company for 15 years, emphasized that Crystallize•Me was born out of a Hong Kong premium lighting company “Blue Heaven Crystal Living” which was founded in 1969. Crystallize•Me has now incorporated “Blue Heaven” as its premium brand lighting range made only in European countries. Other brands include “JK-Royal” for high-end crystal corporate gifts, “JK-Blue” for crystal costume jewellery etc. Bao Gallery (Hong Kong) is located in a Grade A office area of King’s Road.

Ma said, “The key concepts of Bao Galleries are artistic creation and design for luxury crystal living, material excellence with the finest crystal, top-notch techniques, craftsmanship and authenticity. Of course, outstanding service, installation and after-care are on-going objectives”.

The gallery also held exhibitions last year to showcase glass art made by Chinese glass masters. The exhibitions help glass-making students from Qinhua University, Shanghai University and the Chinese Art Academy in Hang Zhou as a way to encourage young artists and to connect with the glass artists in Europe. “Each piece is unique, not mass produced. Even though mainlanders like brand names, they are beginning to appreciate the beauty of a one-of-a-kind work of art that is specifically designed to fit into their own lifestyles and home décor”, Ma noted.

He was excited to note that the company’s new focus on the discovery of the entire luxury living experience for clients. “The company is actively involved with individual clients from their earliest idea and sketches to drawing up the final plans, doing the architectural planning, and engineering support for all the lighting fixtures and art pieces. The company takes the  “Crystallize•Me” concept beyond engaging in retail, projects, the usual hotels and residences. We are now working with yacht owners and even crystallizing private jets”, he said.

“We are also expanding through cooperation and partnerships, such as our manufacturing partner from the Czech Republic, where we source and produce our crystal creations, including the new art pieces we introduced in 2011. The Czechs are famous for craftsmanship and skills that have been honed over generations. With their talent, we produce traditional crystal chandeliers and decorations that look fit for royalty. But also, with the feedback from our mainland customers, we have tried new Asian design ideas for crystal pieces that appeal to our discerning Hong Kong customers as well as customers from our mainland China market”.

Lukas Polak, Deputy director of research and development at the Czech plant, seems to understand and appreciate the growth plans of Crystallize•Me. “As a matter of fact, our factory has had a long relationship with Blue Heaven lighting, so we are delighted to expand our working relationship with Crystallize•Me. Although we have always been famous for our European-style crystal chandeliers, we realize that tastes change from these heavy, older pieces to those lighter and more stylish, artistic pieces even in residential properties, so we see the demand for glass arts installations shifting from business-to-business sales to business-to-consumer sales”, he said. “The benefit Crystallize•Me brings is we cooperate on the design during the construction for private clients who want unique pieces and we can bring the unique solution to the projects. Cooperating with Crystallize•Me allows us to access the China market, because they understand it and overcome all the language and customs barriers for the factory. We can avoid a lot of time wasting and expense by working with a well-trained team of people. We also appreciate the training of the staff here who are expert at installation and post-sale services”, Polak added. “The set up of the factory in the Czech Republic allows us to create custom-designed lighting with localfavours. Our portfolio includes artistic glass objects  that can be combined with other materials”, Polak said, “There is no customer request we consider too difficult. We strive to realize each of our customer’s wishes with a unique artistic solution. Our main priority is to achieve the highest quality through a combination of traditional and cutting- dge techniques and materials. Having complete control of our production ensures, among other things, the company’s free hand throughout the entire process, from the selection of the raw metals, to the treatment of their surfaces and the final installation of the finished product”. Operations director Beryl Cheng in Hong Kong has to know her local customers, Chinese clients and the manufacturers in Europe. She said, “Our Hong Kong customers, many of whom are old Blue Heaven lighting clients, are environmentally conscious and are looking for more efficient lighting fixtures using LED bulbs and smaller ceiling lights. But they still like the luxury aspect and want to keep the crystal features with more modern designs. The Chinese customers prefer the bigger, heavier pieces but since each home is unique, each piece has to accommodate thedimensions given by the customer”. Ms Cheng is the middle-person between the growing demand from China and the European manufacturer.

Managing director of the company Raymond Chui, said, “In terms of our business direction, we saw the opportunity in China and moved there 10 years ago began to introduce luxury crystal living concepts. Hong Kong people are good at conceptualizing and executing fresh ideas to make a new luxury brand, and now Crystallize·Me has the team in place to accomplish the vision.”

FAST FACTS
• 2000 -Branched out in mainland China as “Crystallize Me”, the one and only high-end luxury crystal living brand

• 2002 -Project for APEC VIP room, Shanghai Westin Hotel, and the Bund in Central Shanghai 

• 2004 –Expanded into the market in Beijing, became the lighting supplier for China World Hotel and the Beijing Shangri-La Hotel 

• 2005 -Created “JK Blue” crystal gift associated with COFCO Plaza; as well as the “world’s 100 most famous diamonds” replicas • 2006 -“JK Blue” fashion jewelry 

• 2009 -Combine lighting/ jewellery/gifts into the concept of Crystallize Me

• 2010 -Applied the new concepts of our showroom into Bao Gallery 

• 2011 -On-going Bao Gallery Crystal Art Experience is associated with China’s top crystal artists from Qinhua University, Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Shanghai University