Crystal Palace
Austrian crystal purveyors Swarovski have been busy getting themselves noticed in recent times. Retail installations at places like MOSS and Bergdoff Goodman in New York to collaborations with B&B Italia and Stella McCartney, and holding frequent exhibitions at many big funiture and design fairs. Getting big names to reinvent the chandelier with their crystals certainly helps too. Luminaries in the design world like Tord Boontje, Hella Jongerius, Tom Dixon, The Campana brothers, Vincent Van Duysen, Marcel Wanders, Ron Arad, Yves Behar, Matali Crasset, Ingo Maurer, Karim Rashid, Tokujin Yoshioka, Gaetano Pesce, Tobias Wong, Jurgen Bey, Naoto Fukasawa, Ross Lovegrove and surprisingly, Lenny Kravitz. Yes the musician. Phew, and that's just the more familiar ones I recognise.
Its the sheer number of names and the relatively short timespan that's shocking. Most furniture companies come up with new pieces each season, maybe twice in a year. Swarovski is putting new chandeliers out like every few months. Sure, some of the exhibitions recycle previous works and designers but still, the output is phenomenal. And with all these big names involved, you're getting an intense amount of quality as well.
Tokujin Yoshioka's Stardust, arguably the most famous of all the collaborations is pictured above.
