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What’s with the proliferation of ceiling fans when most of us are basking in central air conditioning from the Ides of March to the first frosty breezes of Fall?
“Why use ceiling fans?” asks Jennifer Motruk Loy, marketing director of CORE Architects with a laugh. “Why hang a chandelier when you can hang a light bulb from a string? They enhance the ambiance, the atmosphere of the space.”
At Mie N Yu, the CORE-designed Georgetown hotspot that has created a stir with everything from its Scheherazade atmosphere, all billowing silks and pungent colors, to its communal bathrooms, ceiling fans set the stage.
Step through the doorway into the clubby bar and whirling overhead is a row of antique belt-driven fans that instantly conjures the Far East or Morocco or the Punjab under British occupation. It’s the perfect introduction to the seven increasingly exotic rooms that comprise this boutique nightery (as it is trendily called), which goes beyond dining to an environment that entertains—and romances. “It’s that Casablanca atmosphere,” Loy says.
Ah, Casablanca. Bogie and Bergman, Hoagy Carmichael tickling the ivories, and cigarette smoke blurring beneath the lazily turning blades of a fan. Toting that picture home in a box is what catapulted the high-end Casablanca Fan Company to fame and fortune several decades ago.
Fantastic Marketing
It was brilliant marketing, says Charlie Betts, owner of Georgetown’s Fan Fair. “The image that they created: nostalgia, romance, the whole deal … When we got into the business in 1980, Hunter was the name, the only name in the business. Now when people walk into our store and they are looking to get a name brand, 90 percent of the time it’s Casablanca.” (But no need to weep for the fortunes of Hunter. They bought out their rival several years ago.)
While Casablanca is still considered by many to be the Cadillac of fans, the company has lots of competition from players old and new that are churning out fans that suit every style, every room in the house, and every fantasy-from the Arabian Nights to the Jetsons.
Whimsy and Style
One name that repeatedly crops up is Fanimation. “Their fans are whimsical, unique, bizarre,” says Sandy Fentress of Maurice Electric. “They have a fan for every theme.”
Started 20 years ago by Tom Frampton, once a Casablanca employee, this company rapidly became known for its playful takes on the exotic, with fans called Belize, Palmetto, and the Islander—the first fan to sport those fabulously evocative palm leaf blades. These were looks nearly dripping with moss and perspiration. From three models the line rapidly expanded to 25, with so many variations that the fans are as customizable as they come.
Cutting Edge Designs
One of the first companies to explore the increasingly popular contemporary niche is the Matthews Fan Company. “They don’t make many models,” Fentress says, “but it’s a very high end, classic, innovative, and very architectural product.”
A decade ago the company’s owner, Chuck Matthews, happened across a curious looking double-headed fan on a trip to Brazil, partnered with the manufacturer, and tweaked the Duplo-Dynamico for the US market.
Matthews quickly realized he was on the cutting edge. “There was an increasing demand for interesting ceiling fans,” he says. “For the most part, what were available were white or black builder models and those awful Victorian models…” Today the firm makes just six fans (though Matthews says he has a seventh design rotating in his head) that are produced in a variety of gorgeous finishes, including brass, bronze and copper.
Giving Matthews a run is The Modern Fan Company, which was created in 1997 by celebrated Los Angeles lighting designer Ron Rezak. This outfit offers perhaps the sleekest, most architectural looks around. “They have a simple, understated fan called The Ball that doesn’t even look like a fan,” Fentress raves.
If there is a hitch to some of these sexy beasts, it’s delivery, particularly when you start customizing the design with blades and lighting and finishes. “This is not true of everybody,” Fentress says, “but a lot of manufacturers import parts and if you happen to order when they’re out of some product it can take months to get here. It’s not instant gratification.”
This is one reason she’s a fan of Minka Aire. “They have traditional designs and modern ones and they have just about everything in stock. Pricing, design and availability make this a hot company. These people give you a variety of looks on a more subtle budget.” Or a rather grand one. John Travolta recently installed Minka Aire’s San Francisco fan with bird’s-eye maple blades in his airport/home in Ocala, FL.
Keep it Moving
There are more than alluring looks to the appeal of ceiling fans. “A lot of people look at them as decorative items but ceiling fans can be used 12 months of the year…they help with the circulation of air in the room,” says Holly Miles of Annapolis Lighting. “They’re more popular than ever.”
Unless you have zoned heating and cooling, moving the air is a particular issue in many of today’s multi-level contemporary homes. “One air conditioning unit or heat pump won’t cool three levels,” Miles says. “Since warm air rises, to keep those upstairs areas comfortable you have to turn the air conditioning down so low that the lower floors may be too cool. When you normally sleep upstairs the ceiling fan makes air more comfortable.”
Like many, Miles lives in a contemporary home with a soaring two-story living area that traps heat in the summertime. “The ceiling fan helps to move that air. Whether it’s really cooler or not, the air moving against your skin makes it feel that way.”
In fact, the American Lighting Association claims that fans can lower the summer temperature of a room as much as seven degrees, cutting energy bills by as much as 40 percent. Reverse the direction of the blades in the winter and warm air is recirculated, snagging an additional 10 percent savings. They’re also great in bathrooms, kitchens and basements where dampness, mold and mildew can be issues.
