Yahoo Finance From lead-free crystal chandeliers to 3D-printed vases, Swarovski turns to young talent for cleaner design
Since 2002, when Nadja Swarovski first set her now legendary Crystal Palace initiative in motion, things have changed – both for the crystal manufacturer and for design. Back then, she says, the initiative – in which she invited contemporary designers to reimagine the chandelier – nearly cost her her job.
“I presented the idea and said we are going to display some modern chandeliers because Swarovski chandelier components are not selling so well,” she remembers. “And I was told, ‘Yes, precisely because they’re not selling, you should not do this project and if you do it, then you'll be fired.’ I did it anyway.”
It was her saving grace that the project made the front cover of the New York Times. “That saved my job. The guy who told me he'd fire me, he quit. And there was so much demand for the chandelier components our sales went up 62 per cent, and we started a chandelier department that sold not only the components but chandeliers themselves.”
The iconic (and I don’t use that word lightly) Blossom chandelier, commissioned of Tord Boontje, remains one of the company’s bestsellers today.
Nearly 20 years on, and Swarovski is still determined as ever to find new and surprising applications for its crystals by embracing contemporary design. Now, however, it’s not only with a view to exploring commercial opportunities but also offering a springboard to young talent in the process.
For the fifth consecutive year Swarovski and Design Miami/ showcased the winners of the Swarovski Designers of the Future Award with three new commissioned works, each applying sustainable crystal technologies. The result of the collaboration goes on show at Art Basel, which opens today.
Shanghai-born installation artist Juju Wang, Dutch design duo Studio Klarenbeek and Dros, and London-based lighting designer Raffe Burrell are – if the successes of previous winners are in any way an idea of what we can expect – all creative talents worth keeping a close eye on.
Selected from across the globe for their innovative design approach, the winners worked to specific briefs focusing on three categories: ‘Architectural Surfaces and Building Materials’, ‘Home Décor’ and ‘Lighting’. Their remit was to develop a prototype or statement that illustrates environmentally conscious design, takes into consideration Swarovski’s existing catalogue of products and explores the potential for wider collaboration between brand and designer.
It’s vital, says Nadja Swarovski, that the company pursues an agenda of sustainable material sourcing. “The human intelligence is out there to develop the technology to create sustainable materials and especially big companies, big brands, big manufacturers, all have a responsibility to do so.
"At Swarovski, we can do it. That knowledge, that technology teamed up with the creative direction of the designers who are so tuned in to the trends or the side guys. It's really effective.”
Juju Wang welcomed visitors into an immersive multisensory installation which saw moving crystal panels mimicking the natural phenomenon of sunlight reflected on the surface of water. The sounds of the ocean waves (recorded by Wang on a recent trip to Greece) and the scent of pure water (sourced from one of Shanghai’s scent libraries) amounted to an extremely calming space a world away from the Basel art fair bustle.
Studio Klarenbeek & Dros have designed a series of stacking 3D printed crystal objects, which on close inspection map the reduction of the Arctic icecaps between 1984 and 2012 due to global warming. Eschewing traditional crystal cutting to instead champion the waste-free on-demand and on-location possibilities of 3D printing the material, the results are poetic and poignant.
Answering the Lighting brief with a collection of pieces inspired by waterfalls in the Tyrolean mountains that surround Swarovski’s historic headquarters in Wattens, Austria, Raffe Burrell’s chandelier and wall lights also make a nod to the Art Deco movement. All three projects are created using Swarovski’s sustainable Advanced Crystal lead-free formula.
Swarovski’s sustainability drive often comes as a surprise to customers and critics, says Nadja, stressing that a third of Swarovski’s energy for crystal production comes from renewables and 70 per cent of the water used is met through recycled sources as part of its environmental management program.
Through the company’s CLEAR programme, Swarovski systematically manages, restricts and eliminates harmful chemicals from products and its supply chain.
“We're not telling the story enough,” she says. “If you go into the Swarovski store, do you walk in and think, ‘sustainable’? Absolutely not. Or do you go into the store and think, ‘That company’s been persuing a sustainability agenda for 25 years now’? Absolutely not. What are we doing?
"In any case, we are so sustainable, but we don't communicate it well enough. Maybe we’re worried of being accused of greenwashing, because we're not. But actually, the clock is ticking. We're hearing more and more alarming reports about climate change – maybe we should actually put the pressure on.”
Younger brands have a great opportunity to talk about their sustainable practices without such fears of retribution, says Nadja. “On that front, it is wonderful to work with young designers because their values are so different, they're geared to sustainability, they are taught about it.
"They have so much research and knowledge at their fingertips and it's so fascinating what they can do with it.” And it is this – though her job is no longer under any threat from embracing it – that makes life at Swarovski consistently rewarding.
“It’s the meticulous exercise of setting the vision or hearing the vision of the designers and then turning that into a material reality,” she says. “As a super kickstarter of what we can do next, it’s so exciting.”
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