The Globe and Mail

OUR MISSION WAS TO REINVENT THE CHANDELIER.

It was while she was working for a couple of high-profile public-relations firms that 38-year-old Nadja Swarovski, the London-based scion of the crystal-making clan, first saw the value and power of branding. At the time, she was focused primarily on promoting fashion and luxury goods. In 1995, however, she transferred her new skills to the family business, which had been founded in Austria by her great-great-grandfather, Daniel.

Since the mid-1990s, Swarovski has made a concerted effort to recast the firm, which was known to many primarily for its kitschy animal figurines, as a leading design-world player. In 1997, she began establishing strategic alliances with up-and-coming fashion designers, supplying them with both funding and crystals. Now, top couturiers including Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Dolce & Gabbana collaborate with the firm.

In 2002, Swarovski turned her sights on the “design art” movement, which creates high-concept, limited-edition furniture and lighting akin to sculpture, by launching Swarovski Crystal Palace, a glittering chandelier series, during the Milan Furniture Fair. So far, the ongoing project has commissioned such A-list figures as Ron Arad, Zaha Hadid and, most recently, Ross Lovegrove, whose dazzling chandelier made with 300,000 crystals was unveiled at last month’s Design Miami show. It was there, in the radiant glow of Lovegrove’s fixture, that Globe Style sat down for a chat with Swarovski, the self-appointed modernizer of her family’s company. By her own admission, she is “not into” the famous crystal figurines, although the ultramodern jewellery she was sporting – earrings, a huge black ring – were studded with crystals. In an elegant German/British accent, she spoke about her passion for contemporary design, Swarovski’s famous collaborations and why everyone should have a chandelier in the bathroom.

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