“My chandelier is the perfect lockdown lover!”
Amanda Liberty has been in love with her light fitting, Lumiere, for nearly four years – and despite anxiety over the pandemic, she’s looking on the bright side with plans to make things official after the crisis
❛ IF I’M FEELING WORRIED ABOUT THE CRISIS, I JUST LEAN ACROSS AND KISS HER ❜
While many of us are slowly being driven round the bend by our partners during lockdown, Amanda Liberty still thinks of her other half as the light of her life.
The 35 year old has been isolating with her 92-year-old chandelier, called Lumiere, and is holed up with her sparkly partner.
Amanda identifies as objectum sexual – meaning she is attracted to objects – and classes herself as asexual.
She says, “I’m really enjoying spending extra time with her. She lights up my life – literally! I love every part of her, from her shape to her colour. The first time I touched her it was absolutely amazing, I felt overwhelmed.
“If f I’m ever feeling worried about the coronavirus crisis, I feel comforted by her presence. I just lean across and kiss and stroke her. She’s the perfect lockdown lover.”
Amanda, who’s from Leeds, found Lumiere on eBay in 2016 and paid £400 to have her shipped over from Germany. She says, “After seeing her photos, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I needed her in my life. When she arrived, I’d never felt happiness like it.”
OUTSIDER
Amanda first realised she was attracted to objects when she was 14 and fell in love with a drum.
She explains, “I have Asperger’s syndrome and I was bullied at school. They called me weird and I felt like an outsider. I remember coming home one afternoon and looking at my drum and feeling this attraction and desire to go over and cuddle it.
“I fell in love that day.
Back then, there wasn’t easy access to the internet and I was convinced I was the only person in the world who felt like that, so I never told any of my friends about it. I did tell my parents, who struggled to understand at first, but they’re now very accepting.”
Amanda has had sexual relationships with men in the past and even lived with a partner for two years when she was 23. But it was during that relationship that she fell in love with The Statue of Liberty after seeing her online.
She has since visited the city over 30 times to see her and even changed her surname by deed poll to Liberty.
She says, “It’s hard to explain what it was that I loved about her – I think it was what she stood for and that she was so powerful.
“I feel particularly attracted to round things, so her crown was my favourite part. I still feel a deep bond with her, but it was hard to be so far away and unable to see her every day.”
CONNECTION
The difficulties with that long-distance relationship made her look at romance in a new light.
Amanda says, “I’ve always been attracted to chandeliers, so in September 2016 I went into a lighting shop and bought Luna, who I thought was beautiful. She was on sale for £35 and I had to have her.
“But when I saw Lumiere on eBay the following month, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I loved her dark bronze colour, and how detailed she was with different patterns and textures. I could never imagine life without her.
“She seems to love me back and appreciate what I do for
her. I always polish her until she dazzles! And I hug her a lot. I can feel a connection with her and an aura coming from her.
“We can communicate, so I know when she changes her mood, and I can sense her character. Lumiere is an observer, she likes to sit and watch me.
“Like all chandeliers, she’s vain too – she likes to be looked at and admired.
It’s funny because I don’t admire vanity in people, yet I find it an attractive quality in a chandelier.”
Amanda now has about 30 other chandeliers as well as Luna and Lumiere, and she treasures them all – spending hours a day polishing and cleaning each one. She often sleeps on the sofa bed in the living room, so she can spend more time with Lumiere, who is 2ft wide.
COMMITMENT CEREMONY
And once the lockdown is over, Amanda is planning to make their relationship official. She says, “We are going to have a commitment ceremony. I want to mark our relationship and have it recognised by friends and family. Over the years I’ve come to realise that I’m far from the only one to fall in love with objects, and I don’t feel remotely ashamed about it. I want people to realise it’s just another way of feeling love.”
And while Amanda is concerned about the impact of the virus on the world, she is still doing some voluntary work and shopping for the vulnerable, and says she feels blessed in her isolation. She tell us, “I have lots of friends and family who I love seeing, and I miss them and worry about them – but I’m making the most of lockdown and appreciating spending time with my loved one. I’m so glad Lumiere is here – she makes sure I’m never lonely.”