Swarovski's generation next

Nadja is the fifth generation of Swarovskis to work for the family business, started by her great great grandfather, Daniel Swarovski. She speaks about her efforts to reinvent the company's image.

She grew up in a house located next to the Swarovski factory. She and her cousins raced bicycles in the factory compound and
played in the corridors.

Like most family members, Nadja Swarovski did her apprenticeship in the factory - working on the assembly line and learning to hand cut crystals. And now she is the fifth generation of Swarovskis to work for the family business, started by her great great grandfather, Daniel Swarovski, in 1895.

Nadja takes pride in her family and the business, but as vice president of international communications for Swarovski, she has also taken on the responsibility of reinventing the company's image and repositioning its products.

Her creative ideas and focussed efforts have brought Swarovski components to the forefront of the fashion and jewellery business. Now Nadja has set her sights on revitalising the home décor aspect of the business through a revival of crystal chandeliers.

Nadja was in Dubai to host a special showing of the Swarovski Crystal Palace Collection 2004 at Index Dubai 2004. This collection of chandeliers has been created for Swarovski by well-known contemporary designers and artists.

In an exclusive interview with Tabloid, she spoke about her pride in the century-old family business and her vision for the future of
Swarovski.

Excerpts from the interview:

Gulf News: Did you always plan to join the business?
Daniel Swarovski: Our family is large and conversations at meal times were always about crystals, which I found quite boring. I always felt an innate connection to the company, but I had never planned to join the business.

It was only after I went to boarding school in Europe and later to study in the US, that I realised how much more interesting my life had been than other people my age. That is what drew me back to the business.

GN: How did you find your special niche?
DS: My father wanted me to study engineering to be in the production side of the business, but I wanted to find my own passion and strengths. I studied art history and foreign languages and did a graduate course in fine and decorative arts at Sotheby's. I also did courses in marketing and communications at Harvard, INSEAD and Columbia University.

My first job was with the Gagosian Gallery in New York, which brought me in touch with many artists. But I found my niche when I joined a well-known public relations company, where I represented many family-owned fashion and jewellery brands.

I realised that like those brands, my family's product too had a passion behind it, but we had not marketed that passion aspect. Our crystal components have always been used in fashion, jewellery and interior design.

Queen Victoria liked to put them in her hair, on her gowns and inreplicas of the crown jewels. They were popular during the Flapper era of high embellishment, they mirrored the geometric styles of the art deco movement, they sparkled from Marilyn Monroe's dress, while she sang "happy birthday" to president Kennedy and they were an essential part of Grace Kelly's look.

But they were always known as diamantes or rhinestones. I spearheaded the public relations campaign to reintroduce our product as Swarovski crystals and to assert its prominent place in fashion, jewellery and lifestyle products.

GN: How did you do this?
DS: I aligned with prominent cutting edge designers as well as new upcoming talents whose creations gave our fashion components a young and trendy image. Although we had been working with top designers earlier, we did not have our own showrooms.

Our salesmen went door to door carrying suitcases. I opened Creative Service Centres in the fashion capitals where we could invite designers into our domain and show them the entire range of our products and demonstrate various application methods.

We also set up a trend forecasting team to provide trend information to designers. Earlier we followed trends, but now we set the trends.

I also initiated a communications outreach programme to educate the press about our repositioning, emphasising the product as Swarovski crystals and not rhinestones or diamantes.

In New York, where I first initiated these changes, our sales jumped from $1.4 million to $13 million in the very first year.

GN: What are your future plans in this area?
DS: I want to position Swarovski as an authority in fashion. I want designers to consider us as part of the creative element of their designs and to see us as a paint palette with which to create beauty.

GN: Which is your favourite Swarovski creation?
DS: I am working with so many designers, who constantly amaze me with their innovative ideas. But my favourite is still the crystal mesh garment created by Alexander McQueen in 1999. He was the first designer I worked closely with and he did wonders
for our image because he truly appreciates our products.

GN: What is the reason for Swarovski's enduring success and how do you stay ahead of the competition?
DS: The key to Swarovski's success is the special cutting machinery and techniques developed by my great-great grandfather, which makes us masters in our field.

The tradition continues because, like me, the people who prepare our special glass mix and our glass cutters have also been with the company for five generations and have the same sense of pride and belonging.

And we are constantly innovating in terms of new shapes, cuts and colours as well as new adhesives and application techniques. Our latest product is the Xillion crystal that has more facets than anything available so far.

GN: What is your next area of focus?
DS: The movie industry. I am working with costume designers and set designers to explore creative ways of showcasing our fashion, jewellery and décor components.

Sometimes it is as simple as giving a bag of crystals, like we did for the latest James Bond movie. The "diamonds" spread on the bed around Halle Berry and Pierce Brosnan in the climactic scenes are Swarovski crystals.

In Phantom of the Opera, which will be released in December, you will see a giant Swarovski crystal chandelier, which has an important role in the movie. We will soon market replicas and adaptations of that two tonne chandelier as well as jewellery inspired by pieces worn by the stars in the movie.

We also work with stylists and agents to ensure that our components are seen on stars at Oscar nights. I also want to focus on the use of Swarovski components in art.

GN: What is the concept behind Swarovski Crystal Worlds, which you established in Wattens, Austria to celebrate your 100th anniversary?
DS: It is a museum that celebrates the magic of crystals. It provides sensory experiences such as what it would feel like to be inside a crystal. But I want to expand it by adding a di