Well, there he goes again… for the second consecutive week, Jacob Slevin, Publisher of 3rings, has upset my nightly regimen of The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and Bill Moyers’ Journal by forcing me to turn to dreaded prime-time network fare. This week, we’ve progressed from the lifestyles of a cadre of young, filthy-rich, and debauched New Yorkers (see Gossip Girl Here, Meet the Eames Lounger) to the lifestyles of a cadre of somewhat older, even richer, and yet still-debauched New Yorkers. It’s a good thing both demographics have excellent taste.

Ether Chandelier. Designed by Patrick Jouin. Manufactured by Murano Due.

While Dirty Sexy Money has been described as containing “a bit of Bret Easton Ellis attitude, a few pinches of "Dynasty," and a dash of the humor of "Arrested Development,” the gorgeous Italian Design Ether Chandelier designed by Patrick Jouin (our final piece of this week’s focus on lighting) that adorns every shot of the Darling’s serpentine staircase is pure Mozart. Well, okay, maybe mostly Mozart with a hint of the inscrutability of Rachmaninoff. Why the switch from the visual to the aural? Because one look at this lovely suspension piece and all the human noise of Dirty Sexy Money disappears under the crystalline music created by the Murano Due glass orbs which seem to be in perpetual descent-like so many drops of luminous spring rain.

If you hadn’t heard of Murano Due before now you can bet your stars you’ve seen it. The variety dates back to the 13th. Century, when the celebrated glass-makers of the Venetian republic were compelled to move their foundries to Murano-Venice contained a surplus of wooden structures and thus was at increased risk of fire. This gives some sense of how greatly the craft was valued, and by the 14th. Century Murano glass makers “were allowed to wear swords, enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the Venetian state, and found their daughters married into Venice's most affluent families. However they were not allowed to leave the Republic.”-sort of like the five dysfunctional Darling offspring.

One aspect of the Murano Due process that distinguishes it from other techniques is its slow transition from liquid to solid: “As the glass passes from a liquid to a solid state, there is an interval when the glass is soft before it hardens completely. This is when the glass-master can shape the material.” This careful attention given to every piece of Murano Due glass is evident in Ether, as each suspended droplet has its own form and character. And Jouin certainly knows how to play to the piece’s strength: the polished steel finish of the chandelier’s crown is sleek yet understated-sort of like a charcoal sky before rain. One pays a mighty price for such exquisite craftsmanship, as you’ll see if you look here -civilized decorum prevents me from specifying the price; let’s just say that it’s a good thing the Darlings are well-monied. And here’s hoping that our guilty TV pleasures continue to be peopled with compelling products-otherwise, I might lose all touch with popular culture.