cirque. ceiling. fan.

I love everything about ceiling fans except looking at them. Not to put too fine a point on it, but most are ugly. The worst offenders are the ones with brown faux wood paddles that seem to have crawled out of a 1970s kitchen. But even bold attempts to modernize fans tend to come off poorly. Try to add a bit of metal or a hint of a curve to the paddles and suddenly the fans look like death dealing machines.

blades.
I think the long flat blades are what have been tripping designers up. The Cirque neatly overcomes that obstacle by using oval paddles in two different sizes to soften and break up the look. It also gives the fan a nicely organic feel. I don't know how much air they push around, but they look like they'll do an adequate job at least.

three. flavors.
The Cirque comes with three paddle styles: silver, red/yellow/blue (in combination...you can't just get all blue or all red, for instance), and mahogany (don't get me started). I'd only recommend the colorful version for a super funky room, or a circus big top.

cutting. costs.
At $335 the cost of the Cirque isn't bad. You can easily pay twice as much for something twice as ugly at the local Home Depot.