Swarovski’s new jewellery collection marks a tantalising change of direction for the Austrian crystal specialist. With Giovanna Engelbert now installed as global creative director, we can expect a colourful rethink in both jewellery and stores, which are taking on a playful new identity as part of her vision for the brand as a ‘Wonderlab’ of crystal creativity.
‘I call the brand transformation we are living at the moment a “revolutionary evolution” and it’s exactly the same with the jewellery I’ve designed,’ says Engelbert. ‘I wanted to explore the pure beauty of crystal and how its magnificence roots in fundamental geometrical and logical structures. Looking at Daniel Swarovski’s first drawings was an inspiration,’ she says, referring to the brand’s founder, a glass cutter, who established the company in 1895. ‘The power of his dream drives me and is the path we will follow and bring Swarovski forward in future.’
Englebert’s desire to create bold, yet wearable, jewellery results in pieces that embrace oversized proportions in a rainbow of vivid hues. Necklaces, earrings, rings and bracelets sink cushion-cut crystals into metal in sugary-sweet hues, or facet crystals into baguette cuts and edge them with gold plating. The affordable cocktail jewellery becomes tinged with the irreverence of the Pop Art movement – this is playful jewellery made to be stacked, piled up the wrists and earlobes and enjoyed. ‘It’s jewellery full of playful extravagance — one that doesn’t feel forced but is expressive and original,’ adds Engelbert.
The jewellery is accompanied by a campaign led by familiar faces: Adwoa Aboah, Malick Bodian, Fadhi Mohamed, Tess McMillan, Penelope Tree, Maggie Cheng, Jeenu Mahadevan, Lexi Boling and Jade Mallinger.
It also coincides with a rethink of the brand’s stores, with 28 new shops – dubbed Instant Wonder – opening across the world. In vivid colours and metallic textures, they evoke a candy-coloured fantasy world. ‘It’s very Alice in Wonderland lands in Willy Wonka’s candy store, meets the Pop Art movement,’ says Engelbert. ‘The interiors take inspiration from the prism of colour that crystal creates when charmed by light. Buying jewellery is a moment of joy and exploration, and we wanted a Wonderlab for all the senses that can ignite dreams
Information
-
A dramatic Mallorcan house is a manifesto of contemporary Mediterranean livingOn the outskirts of Palma, a Mallorcan house, Casa Óculo by OHLAB, harnesses time and sunlight in architecture that seems to ‘breathe’
-
A rare Rudolph Schindler-designed rental just hit the market in Los AngelesThis incredible Silver Lake apartment, designed one of the most famous voices in California modernism, could be yours for $3,675 a month
-
Pierre Yovanovitch on reviving French design house Ecart, and the ‘beautiful things’ aheadTwo years after acquiring Ecart, Yovanovitch unveils his plans for the design house founded by Andrée Putman and now relaunched with a series of reissues by American-Hungarian émigré Paul László
