The swan, a clutch of recent collaborations, a retrospective exhibition — and gold galore — take heart stage as Swarovski kicks off its a hundred and thirtieth anniversary celebrations this month.
The Austrian crystal specialist is unveiling its Vienna Assortment, impressed by its long-necked emblem; seven visitor designers as a part of the Creators Lab sequence, and a Hollywood cease for its “Masters of Mild” exhibition that underscores its cultural and business relevance.
“For us, 130 years was a novel alternative to speak our values to clients,” Alexis Nasard, Swarovski’s chief govt officer, instructed WWD in an unique interview Monday, referring to its devotion to “joyful extravagance” and self-expression, its distinctive positioning as a purveyor of “pop luxurious,” and its historical past of expertise, creativity and cultural connections.
Swarovski’s branding for its massive anniversary.
Courtesy of Swarovski
Nasard pressured it’s necessary for luxurious manufacturers at present to construct “cultural capital” in order that the “buyer feels that by collaborating with this model, or by buying this model, they’re shopping for into one thing larger than themselves.”
“It’s actually necessary to all the time keep an equilibrium between zeitgeist and heritage,” he defined over Groups. “Now we have a novel savoir-faire in creating and chopping crystals, that are very stunning and have distinctive properties. Now we have creativity. Now we have high quality. That is what any luxurious model must be credible and sustainable over time. However what the model has, along with this, is what I name unapologetic modernity, all the time within the zeitgeist.”
To wit: Look out for the following wave of its vacation marketing campaign that includes its international ambassador Ariana Grande, a brand new Osaka flagship that opened Monday amid World Expo 2025 within the Japanese metropolis — and likewise the sudden, like Beyoncé Knowles-Carter sporting Swarovski jewellery throughout her “Cowboy Carter” tour.
“These occasions are usually not all the time engineered by us. We frequently grow to be the pure selection of designers and artists,” Nasard famous.
The established and rising manufacturers that may be part of the Artistic Lab sequence are nonetheless underneath wraps for a couple of extra weeks, however Nasard prompt they had been like-minded, design-driven companies that might push the boundaries of crystal craftsmanship.
“We contemplate our collaborations with the Creators Lab a really distinctive alternative to indicate that our crystals are an ingredient for superlative creativity and creative expression,” he stated.
“We’re not simply an decoration,” he continued, explaining that its litmus take a look at for collaborations is asking, “Might this product have been as artistically impactful if it didn’t have Swarovski crystals? We wish the client to say, ‘Wow, that could be a totally different tackle design than something that I’ve seen earlier than.’”
That stated, Swarovski does promote ornaments — and certain “tens of hundreds of thousands” of swans, which first turned the corporate’s emblem in 1989 and a product line in 2001.
The limited-edition Vienna assortment, designed by Swarovski’s international inventive director Giovanna Engelbert, pays homage to deal with founder Daniel Swarovski and town the place he established a model now synonymous with crystal.
Nasard stated references to the swan in that assortment vary from express to subliminal, typically “only a curve, a twist, a degree or one thing that might symbolize feathers.”
“It’s a really stunning, gracious and seductive animal,” he commented, noting that Englebert and Swarovski performed an in depth examine of swans throughout the visible arts again in late 2022.
In line with Engelbert, what makes the home particular — and a fixture in popular culture, bringing sparkle to vogue runways, concert events, galas and theatrical performances — is “the transformative energy of crystal, the marvel of creativity and the enjoyment of self-expression.”
At this time, the home additionally designs and manufactures lab-grown Swarovski Created Diamonds and zirconia; jewellery; equipment; homewares, and crystals for the automotive trade.
The Vienna Assortment — which incorporates chokers, ear cuffs, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and a brooch — is available in unique gold packaging, that metallic hue additionally figuring in window shows and activations in choose shops for the “130 Years of Pleasure” celebrations.
The anniversary program extends to a particular activation on the World Expo in Osaka, and a “festive takeover” of the Swarovski flagship in Paris on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.
The entire components unfurl as Nasard makes regular progress on a turnaround at Swarovski, which discovered itself in monetary problem after the pandemic, bringing him on board in 2022 as the primary non-family CEO of the corporate. (The longtime Procter & Gamble govt additionally headed Kantar and Bata Group earlier in his profession.)
Discussing the corporate’s latest efficiency amid an inauspicious and risky market context, he stated Swarovski logged 5 p.c natural progress within the first half of 2025, with like-for-like progress of 17 p.c within the Americas, 9 p.c in Europe and three p.c in Asia, together with China, which has been a drag on all luxurious gamers.
What’s extra, the jewellery class grew 8 p.c within the first six months of the yr, outstripping the trade common and confirming market share beneficial properties. Watches additionally carried out properly, he stated.
Swarovski posted a revenue in 2024, its first in six years, and is on observe to be within the black once more this yr, Nasard stated, crediting operational self-discipline and the soundness of its LUXignite technique, which incorporates the created diamonds assortment and curated purchasing experiences.
The manager stated the model spies extra runway for growth within the U.S., the place it at the moment operates round 115 shops.
Therefore the “Masters of Mild” exhibition hitting Hollywood after stops in Shanghai, Milan and Seoul. The showcase explores Swarovski’s historical past in leisure, vogue, design and its longstanding ties to Hollywood as a participant in cinema and on the pink carpet.
The model has collaborated with a few of Tinseltown’s most necessary costume designers for the reason that Nineteen Twenties, and has seen its crystals sparkle on such legendary stars as Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich.
“We thought that might be a really good alternative for us to speak about our previous, our distinctive savoir-faire, and to guard the model into the longer term,” Nasard stated.
Swarovski operates round 2,300 boutiques in additional than 140 nations.
