SWAROVSKI AUSTRIAN CRYSTALS

For admirers of fine crystal, there is something magical about the name Swarovski. For more than a century, the name has stood for top-quality, full-cut crystal, expertly faceted and polished to extract every spark of its fiery diamond-like brilliance.

For Daniel Swarovski, a Bohemian glassmaker’s son, the magical interplay of light and crystal influenced his life from birth in 1862 until death in 1956 at the age of 94. As a teenager he apprenticed in his father’s glass factory. At the age of 21 the defining moment of his life came as he viewed new inventions by Siemens and Edison at the 1883 First Electrical Exhibit in Vienna and recognized the significance of this new technology for his own industry.

Nine years later he filed a patent for the world’s first precision crystal-cutting machine. Fearing theft of his ideas, Swarovski left Bohemia In 1895 and purchased an old textile mill in the secluded Austrian Alpine town of Wattens where he founded the world’s first hydroelectric crystal-cutting plant.

Between 1908-11 Daniel and his three sons developed a method to produce pure glass crystal of flawless brilliance, still considered the finest made today. Later experiments led to formulas for adding dazzling color and coatings in order to mimic gemstones and enhance the brilliance of the crystal pendants, stones, and beads.

Swarovski crystals shined brilliantly during the Flapper Age when art deco jewelry jazzed up the glitter of the new couture. Hollywood also loved glitz, and Swarovski supplied abundant sparkle to the stars with tiaras for Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn, Dorothy's "ruby red slippers" in The Wizard of Oz, and the sexy crystal rhinestone mesh gown that Marilyn Monroe wore in her last public appearance — a surprise "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" serenade to John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden in May 1962. The Jean Louis-designed gown later sold in auction for $1.2 million.

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