Daniel Swarovski: An Innovative Genius
Author: Steve Benson

In the Nineteenth century, Bohemia, in the Austro-Hungarian
Empire was one of the most important manufacturing centers for
both glass and lead crystal. It was here that Daniel Swarovski
was born in 1862, the son of the owner of a small
crystal-cutting factory.

Daniel whiled away his childhood years by watching, in
amazement, the workers in his father's factory, skillfully
working the lead crystal blanks into things of beauty.

By the age of 21, having completed his crystal cutting
apprenticeship by working at his father's business and at other
crystal-cutting shops, he ventured to Vienna, Austria, where the
"1. Elektrische Ausstellung": the first-ever electrical
exhibition was being held. Having seen electrical machines
developed by others, including Edison, he left there inspired to
develop an electrically powered crystal-cutting machine. It took
him nine years, working day and night to achieve, but by 1892 he
had registered his patent.

In addition to saving a vast amount of time, his machine
enabled the skilled crystal-cutters to achieve uniformity and
accuracy that was, up until that time, impossible to imagine.

Three years later, a much larger operation was required and,
after joining forces with Franz Weis and Armand Kosmann, a new
factory was opened in the Austrian Tyrol town of Wattens. This
major shift in location was brought about by three factors: a)
the company needed power and lots of it; the Alpine streams gave
them unlimited power to drive their generators. b) They needed
to move far away from the prying eyes of their bohemian
competitors to avoid imitation of their unique designs and c)
with its superior rail links, working from Wattens ensured that
their wares could be shuttled straight from the factory to
Paris, the fashion capital of Europe, where their jewelry was in
huge demand.

By 1908, Daniel had been joined by his three sons: Wilhelm,
Fredrich and Alfred and the company expanded once more. This
time by the building of ovens specially designed to create the
crystal from its raw materials. Up until this time, all of their
crystal had been purchased ready-made and then cut and finished
in Wattens. However, to enable much stricter quality control,
the crystal simply had to be made in-house. It took around five
years of tinkering but, eventually, by 1913, the ovens and
mixture were refined to a point where they were turning out
near-perfect lead crystal.

This was a major turning point for Swarovski. Their flawless
crystal jewelry became much sought after by the Parisian
jewelers and fashion houses in addition to demand from further a
field. The company rose to this challenge and started to
mass-produce its lead crystal on a grand scale. Establishing it
as a force to be reckoned with in the lead crystal-manufacturing
world.

In 1935, Wilhelm, following the family tradition of innovation,
registered a patent on a pair of binoculars. These were marketed
under the brand name of "Habicht" and were the company's main
source of income through World War II. By 1949 the Habicht name
was given up in favor of Swarovski Optic. Today, their lenses
are second to none in the world of precision optical
instruments.

Since that time, almost a century ago, Swarovski's attention to
constant improvement has kept them at the pinnacle of their
craft and their name is still, to this day, synonymous with
crystal of the highest quality and un-paralleled beauty.

Over the years their range of goods has expanded and now
includes rhinestones, vases, stemware, picture frames,
sculptures and chandeliers, the list goes on. And the company's
attention to detail and quality is as high now as it was a
century ago when Daniel was at the helm.


About The Author: For more information about Swarovski and
other crystal manufacturers, please visit our website
http://www.crystalware-online.com