Swarovski
Swarovski (/swɒˈrɒfski/, German: [svaˈrɔfski] ⓘ) is an Austrian producer of glass based in Wattens. It was founded in 1895 by Daniel Swarovski.
For other uses, see Swarovski (disambiguation).Company type
1895 (as A. Kosmann, D. Swarovski & Co.)
- Daniel Swarovski
- Armand Kosmann
- Franz Weis
Wattens, Innsbruck-Land District, Austria
- Alexis Nasard (CEO)[1]
- Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert (Creative Director)
- Markus Langes-Swarovski
- Nadja Swarovski
- Mathias Margreiter
- Dr Christoph Swarovski
- Andreas Buchbauer
- Arno Pilcher
Crystal, genuine gemstones, created stones, accessories, and lighting
~29,000 (2020[2])
The company is split into three major industry areas: the Swarovski Crystal Business, which primarily produces crystal glass, jewelry, watches and accessories; Swarovski Optik, which produces optical instruments such as telescopes, telescopic sights for rifles, and binoculars; and Tyrolit, a manufacturer of grinding, sawing, drilling, and dressing tools, as well as a supplier of tools and machines.
Today, the Swarovski Crystal Business is one of the highest grossing business units within Swarovski, with a global reach of approximately 3,000 stores in roughly 170 countries, more than 29,000 employees, and a revenue of about 2.7 billion euros (in 2018).[3]
Swarovski is now run by the fifth generation of family members.[3] It has been announced, however, that for the first time in the company's key history, senior management positions will come to be fulfilled by non-family members during the course of 2022.[1]
Nazi period[edit]
Members of the Swarovski family were early, active and enthusiastic champions of Nazism, and at least six of its members maintained membership in the illegal party prior to Austria's annexation to Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938.[23] Three weeks earlier, 500 marchers in the Tyrolean town of Wattens held a torchlight procession that ended with chants of "Sieg Heil" and "Heil Hitler." The majority of the participants, police determined, were Swarovski plant employees, among them Swarovski family heirs Alfred, Wilhelm and Friedrich.[24]
In its report to the state police on 14 February 1947, the Innsbruck district administrator called company head Alfred Swarovski "an enthusiastic member of the NSDAP."[25] Alfred Swarovski praised Hitler at business gatherings and took actions as a regional business leader to ensure that "Tyrolean industry could be integrated as smoothly as possible into the enormous gears of the economy of Greater Germany and into the National Socialist economic order." He sent "grateful loyalty greetings" to Adolf Hitler on his 49th birthday and arranged a donation of 100,000 shillings for Hitler to establish a holiday home in Tyrol.[26]
The company exploited its political connections and stewardship of the regional business association to emerge stronger from the Nazi era. During the war it diversified its production and expanded its business lines, adding abrasives, optical devices, telescopes, binoculars and other product lines during the war and growing from 500 to almost 1,200 employees between the Anschluss and March 1944.
"From my party affiliation, I only took advantage of the fact that it was possible for me as a party member to initiate the negotiations necessary for maintaining the company and to bring it to a successful conclusion with the responsible economic agencies of the Reich." Alfred Swarovski told the Innsbruck People's Court after the war.
In 1994, historian Horst Schreiber wrote about Swarovski's past but was not granted access to company archives.[27]
The contemporary Swarovski company commissioned historian Dieter Stiefel as "a step towards dealing with our history in a serious and very pro-active manner," board spokesman Markus Langes-Swarovski said in 2018, however the study was not published because, Langes-Swarovski said, "Swarovski is a company that generally tries to keep the owners' personal stories largely out of the public eye because it does nothing for the business."[28]
Exhibitions and museum[edit]
The company runs a crystal-themed museum, the "Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds)" at its original Wattens site (near Innsbruck, Austria). The Crystal Worlds Center is fronted by a grass-covered head, the mouth of which is a fountain.
Swarovski work was exhibited at Asia's "Fashion Jewel5ry & Accessories Fair" based on the concept of a single continuous beam of fragmented light travelling through a crystal.[38]
In 2012, Swarovski collaborated with the London Design Museum to present an exhibition mixing digital technology with crystals.[39]
Figurines and collectibles[edit]
Swarovski's figurines are collectible;[42] its first produced figurine was a stylized mouse. A smaller version of this mouse, now labelled the "replica mouse," is still sold to this day.
Swarovski Elements crystals were included in some collectible silver coins issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2009.[43]
In November 2014, Victoria's Secret revealed a redesign of its Heavenly Luxe perfume bottle with Swarovski crystals.[44]
Partnerships[edit]
Since 2004, Swarovski has provided the 2.7-meter-diameter (9 ft), 250-kilogram (550 lb) star or snowflake that tops the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City.[65] Smaller versions of this are sold as Annual Edition ornaments.
Swarovski owned the Austrian football club FC Swarovski Tirol from 1986 to 1992.
In 2018, celebrity chef Nadiya Hussain, TV personality Katie Piper, and CoppaFeel founder Kris Hallenga, were announced as Swarovski's latest ambassadors, and starred in the brand's ongoing #BrillianceforAll campaign.[66]
In 2019, Swarovski partnered with Dior for its exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, featuring archival designer pieces emblazoned with Swarovski crystal.[67]
Swarovski annually hosts the Designers of the Future Award in recognition of young and up-and-coming designers.[68] The previous winners of the Swarovski Designers of the Future Award include influential designers and architects: Ross Lovegrove, Greg Lynn, Troika, Fredrikson Stallard, Erwin Redl, Eyal Burstein, Asif Khan, Guilherme Torres, Jeanne Gang and Mexico City-based global architecture and design practice Fernando Romero Enterprise (FR-EE).[69] The 2018 winners were Frank Kolkman, an experimental Dutch designer focused on robotic technologies; Study O Portable, a research-based Dutch-Japanese practice making objects about the designed environment, and Yosuke Ushigome of TAKRAM, a creative Japanese technologist specializing in emerging technologies.[68]
In November 2023, Swarovski collaborated with the shapewear brand Skims on a new collection of body jewelry.[70][71]
The factory in Wattens
Swarovskistraße Wattens September 2007
