The world-famous Swarovski company has been making high quality lead glass crystal for over 100 years.

It all began back in 1895, when along with financial backers Franz Weis and Armand Kosmann, Daniel Swarovski founded the business. Mr. Swarovski had previously served a two-year apprenticeship working alongside his father as a glass and crystal cutter, and in 1892 had invented his own electric cutting machine. This patent device revolutionized the process of crystal cutting, and this, alongside the duo’s demand for only the highest quality of crystal available, made the Swarovski name famous.

Daniel Swarovski chose Wattens, Austria as the site of his new factory, and between 1908 and 1913 the father and son team perfected their formula for producing flawlessly cut jewelry stones from crystal, aided by Daniel’s sons Freidrich, Alfred and Wilhelm. In 1913, the Swarovski company expanded, built their own production plant and made it their aim to further enhance production and create the very finest crystals in the world.

The fashion-conscious 1920’s were big times for the family business, and demand continued to grow. The ‘flapper’ trend of the time, which included fringed, crystal creations, saw Swarovski patent another design - a crystal studded ribbon of fabric, which was ready to be sewn onto any garment. Top fashion designers of the time, such as Scharelli and Chanel turned costume jewelry into the clothing of choice for every fashion-conscious woman of the period, and Swarovski saw the benefit.

The next big innovation in the world of crystal fashion was the development of Aurora Borealis, in 1956. Daniel Swarovski’s son, Manfred, worked alongside Christian Dior to perfect the process of coating crystals with an almost invisible layer of metal, giving it an unrivalled rainbow effect and sparkle.

The first synthetic stones arrived in 1977. Cubic zirconia almost matches a natural crystal in terms of sparkle and brilliance, and cubic zirconia jewelry became the must-have of the time, with people from all walks of life now able to afford these synthetic versions.

Swarovski celebrated their 100^th birthday in 1995 with the opening of Swarovski Crystal World (Kristallwelten) in Wattens - a theme park filled with some of the finest crystal creations, and designs from some of the most celebrated crystal workers in the world.

Demand for Swarovski has continued to grow. The exact processes used during production are extremely secretive, but the company continues to produce the highest quality products on the market. More information can be found on the Swarovski website www.swarovski.com.