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Crystallized – Swarovski Elements:
It’s About Looking Forward

By Nicole Liang

From jewellery and haute couture to architecture and interiors, Swarovski continues to widen its appeal and application portfolio. Today, with its newfound focus, the Crystallized – Swarovski Elements brand ushers in sparkle, shine and luxury fashion into the world of premium furniture.

Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of the American Vogue magazine said, “Fashion is not about looking back, it’s always about looking forward…” As an influential icon that has a movie documentary about her and her magazine, Wintour’s words carry as much weight as the US$300-billion global fashion industry she has direct impacts on. In fact, looking farther, this industry could be worth a lot more if we consider the steering effects it has on other lifestyle sectors that range from electronics to furniture – as long as design is involved. What we see in glossy magazines – be it in relation to style, colour, texture or material – are often inspirations for makers of our upholstery, cabinets, lamps and dining tables.

Speaking about looking forward, when in 1895 Swarovski perfected the now patented technology to make precision-cut crystals, one thought that was enough innovation to last a lifetime. But through the following century, the company successfully entered the French fashion and jewellery arena with a partnership with Christian Dior in the 1950s, then into the international haute couture market in 1977. Moving on into the 21st century, Swarovski launched the Crystal Palace in 2005. It showed how the traditional chandelier can be reinvented with Swarovski’s cutting edge technology, fashionable design and creativity.

By 2006, responding to an ever-increasing pool of vogue home owners and Swarovski’s ever-growing sophisticated clientele, the company built a new product brand Crystallized – Swarovski Elements. This product group allows crystal elements to be affixed to a huge range of surfaces so that there are no limits to how they can be used for decorative or practical purposes. They could be used in home textiles, wall and window decoration and home accessories and can be combined with unlikely materials such as wood, metal, latex, leather, tiles, building surfaces and paper.

Fashionable Asian Furniture

While Crystallized – Swarovski Elements is not completely new to furniture (Singapore-headquartered Lorenzo launched its Cristallo Collezione using this product in mid-2009), its application is now seen only in very limited furniture brands across Asia. To fill this gap, a workshop debuted on August 26, 2009 in Selangor, Malaysia and offered technical advice on how to use Crystallized – Swarovski Elements on furniture.

Anna Hoetzeneder, Country Manager, Southeast Asia, Crystal Components Business, Swarovski Singapore Trading Pte Ltd, said at the sidelines of the workshop that she hopes to see “subsequently, participants and the companies who were here today will be back for more training, inspiration, and products”.

The industry can also expect more interaction with this luxury brand through activities like this inaugural event in the future. Hoetzeneder’s team is now able to serve manufacturers directly, with the appointment of Juara Pesona as its authorised wholesaler of Crystallized – Swarovski Elements in Malaysia, which is a major manufacturing base in Southeast Asia. She added that her team is currently defining more authorised partners in Singapore and Malaysia to serve the markets with the elements. “The feedback is that in the Asian furniture industry, not a lot of things have been done with our Crystallized – Swarovski Elements yet, so there is a lot of room for creativity and a lot of possibilities for those brands and companies to really venture into and pioneer these elements," Hoetzeneder explained.

For a start and taking things one step at a time, Hoetzeneder looks forward to manufacturers beginning to try the Crystallized – Swarovski Elements in their prototypes, and propose them to their retail buyers or consumers. After that then would a commercial line be possible. “Once we do have these commercial lines from different partners, we are then able to organise different kinds of platforms, events, activities, or also integrate, showcase and display the pieces of these different manufacturers, in brochures magazines, in maybe even international initiatives that we do for our Crystallized – Swarovski Elements orders,” Hoetzeneder added.

Adding Swarovski And Added Brand Value

From jewellery and fashion to architecture and interiors, these partners saw the value of the Swarovski brand name in creating a differentiated position in the market. The company says that with Crystallized – Swarovski Elements, furniture manufacturers can enjoy this same value.

“Throughout the past years we have diversified more and more into new segments because many manufacturers have discovered enormously creative ways to crystallise their collection pieces further and to differentiate them, especially in the furniture and home textiles industry,” said Hoetzeneder. Essentially, the use of such a luxury brand of products is one of the “new ways to distinguish themselves further in the market”.

Given Swarovski’s illustrious heritage as well as the costs involved in R&D, and procuring the material itself, the adoption of Crystallized – Swarovski Elements by any manufacturer signifies a commitment to product quality and innovation. This is part of a furniture brand’s design language and where an added brand value is put into the equation. As Hoetzeneder pointed out, her product is a creative element, and can be used in very different ways. Each company will find its own creativity and ideas and make a difference with Crystallized – Swarovski Elements.

This is especially helpful for furniture makers who want to elevate themselves from the price wars in the low-end segment. “If our manufacturers work with their core partners and start to build a brand, hopefully with our Crystallized – Swarovski Elements, they can even further enhance their premium positioning, then they won’t have to feel the threat [of being copied],” Hoetzeneder explained.

Support For Manufacturers

There is no selection process to prevent anyone from using Crystallized – Swarovski Elements, as long as the manufacturer uses the components and the brand name correctly. “This is where we would rather talk about the minimum branding support level," Hoetzeneder said.

However, for companies with a very strong international positioning, a wide range of branding support is in store, especially for those with a specialised line integrating Crystallized – Swarovski Elements. Much of such support comes in the form of visual communication, such as offering manufacturers the right to use the ‘Made of Crystallized – Swarovski Elements’ branding label-tag in their brochures. Retailers who display and sell these crystallised pieces may be entitled to tailored POS and shop layouts that speak of the Crystallized – Swarovski Elements brand.

“We want to make them (trade buyers and consumers) more aware so that at the moment they see ‘Made with Crystallized – Swarovski Elements’, they can be sure that the product they buy is made with genuine Crystallized – Swarovski Elements,” Hoetzeneder elaborated.

Specifically for manufacturers who are in the capacity and keen to use Crystallized – Swarovski Elements in their furniture, Hoetzeneder and her team can provide training, product information and “inspiration materials”, which refer to trend insights compiled by Swarovski’s in-house trend and designer development department. The team consolidates worldwide trends in places like Milan, London and New York, and continuously exchanges this with trend agencies in the interior and architectural professions.

“We then make this information available to our customers twice a year, and we also have new shapes that are developed based on these different trend directions. This… ensures that our customers in manufacturing are in line with current trends,” she added.

JP, Juara Pesona Sdn Bhd, who was recently named the authorised wholesaler of Crystallized – Swarovski Elements in Malaysia, also said in an interview that there is “very limited knowledge” about the Crystallized ingredients within Asia. Founders of the company Gary Goh and Kent Lee believe there is potential in putting the crystal elements and ingredients into not only sofas, but also all kinds furniture and furnishing in homes.

To convey this message and show manufacturers the wide range of products and applications available, Juara Pesona hosted the first Crystallized – Swarovski Elements workshop in Southeast Asia at its office.

Juara Pesona has deep faith that the Crystallized ingredients can help Asian manufacturers maximise their potential for making higher quality products. Malaysian companies, in particular, can use this platform to build up a different portfolio, or add value to their existing products, and hence create a very good reputation, Goh and Lee said.

Both Goh and Lee have innate understanding and expertise in Southeast Asian furniture. Lee had previously been liaising and working with sofa manufacturers while Goh comes with experience from an upmarket Italian furniture maker. One recent trend they observed was the popularity of very glossy leather in China. And since Juara Pesona is also the distributor of high-end Gruppo Mastrotto leather, they know that many factories find this type of material difficult to process into upholstered furniture without defects. Goh and Lee see Crystallized – Swarovski Elements as an alternative to achieve this glossy, glittery effect.

Besides on upholstery, they also have plans to show wooden furniture makers how Crystallized – Swarovski Elements can work for them too. According to Goh and Lee, the trend of applying crystal elements on wooden furniture had started two years ago in Europe. Manufacturers can look to Juara Pesona for more tips on fashionable European styles now, as authorised wholesalers will be given access to the design forecasts published regularly by Swarovski.