Location Savona 56
Days 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,
Address via savona, 56
Zone tortona
Swarovski Crystal Palace pushes the boundaries of design this year with an exhibition by leading designers during the Salone Internazionale Del Mobile, Milan.
Via Savona 56, Zona Tortona
16 – 21 April 2008
Swarovski, the world’s leading manufacturer of precision cut crystal, presents a new dramatic concept at its exhibition of Swarovski Crystal Palace at Via Savona 56, in the Zona Tortona district of Milan in April.
A carefully selected group of creators have been invited to design an atmosphere, which include items of lighting, furniture and interior design elements. The designers are working with the unique medium of Swarovski crystal, pushing the boundaries of crystal to create their own contemporary interpretations of furniture, lighting and design. Their inspirations come from many varied sources, amongst them the natural world, the visual arts and high technology. The results are dramatic, captivating and give new expression and meaning to lighting and design. Swarovski Crystal Palace is proud to present a provocative and challenging exhibition for 2008.
The installations are by an acclaimed group of international designers including:
Paul Cocksedge
Front Design
Zaha Hadid
Studio Job
Piero Lissoni
Arne Quinze
Fredrikson Stallard
Marcus Tremonto
Marcel Wanders
Tokujin Yoshioka
THE SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL PALACE COLLECTION 2008
VEIL by PAUL COCKSEDGE
Veil by Paul Cocksedge Studio is a 4 metre high Swarovski crystal curtain which creates an incredible visual illusion. When viewed through a mirror, the shimmering curtain reveals its hidden depth: an iconic image set within the canvas of crystals. But when the viewer looks back towards the curtain, the image has disappeared.
The secret within Veil is somewhat appropriate when considering the speculation surrounding this particular image, the delicacy needed when revisiting it. All will be revealed at 56 Via Savona.
Cocksedge sees this first edition of Veil for Swarovski Crystal Palace as a romantic illusion.
A rising star of lighting design, the young British designer Paul Cocksedge creates visually spectacular and technically ingenious lights that celebrate the magical and transformative qualities of illumination. He has exhibited at the Design Museum and Powerhouse Museum and his work is part of the Victoria & Albert Museum and Pinakothek der Moderne Die Neue Sammlung permanent collections.
RANDOM by FRONT DESIGN
Front Design has experimented with Swarovski crystal as a material that can be randomly moulded to blown crystal glass to create a series of visually innovative vases and lights, of which no two will ever be exactly the same.
Front have let the precision-cut Swarovski crystals merge with hot liquid crystal to create a method where all the objects get an individual expression.
Swedish design group Front consists of four designers Sofia Lagerkvist, Charlotte von der Lancken, Anna Lindgren and Katja Savstrom. They take their inspiration from animals, physics, surroundings, and materials.
RAY by ZAHA HADID
Zaha Hadid has created a design that pushes the boundaries and preconceived notions of what a chandelier is; one that redefines lighting and its nature as an object that is hung from the ceiling.
Tensile cables stretching from floor to ceiling at a 45 degree angle form a fluted cone that carries 2,700 Swarovski crystals, each individually lit by LEDs. Wrapping in a fluid vortex about the cone, the lit crystals inscribe ethereality.
To complement this dramatic roomscape, Hadid also presents a new bench which follows the same design language and is inlaid with Swarovski crystals backlit by LEDs.
Zaha Hadid is a notable British Iraqi deconstructivist architect. . In 2004 Hadid became the first female recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In 2006, Hadid was honored with a retrospective spanning her entire work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In that year she also received an Honorary Degree from the American University of Beirut.
GLOBE by STUDIO JOB
For the new Crystal Palace collection, Studio Job searched for an autonomous and universal icon and decided upon the idea to design a second Globe.
“Maybe it’s the sense of time and gravity that touches us, maybe it is the earth that keeps turning and turning.”
Globe will stand at 4m tall and 2m diameter and will feature 450,000 Swarovski crystals
Graduates of the renowned Design Academy Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel form Studio Job. From the beginning, their collaboration resulted in highly expressive, usually one-off or limited-edition artesian works, often cast in bronze or, later, finely constructed in laser-cut inlaid woods. Their work has been shown internationally in numerous museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
CUPOLA by PIERO LISSONI
Piero Lissoni has continued in his exploration of lighting design, and conceived a spectacular and show-stopping chandelier that takes advantage of reversing its point of view thereby creating an “inside out chandelier”.
The chandelier was conceived as a seemingly solid volume that has a hollowed out internal space in the shape of a cupola. In architecture, a cupola is a dome-shaped or quadrilateral-shaped ornamental structure located on top of a larger roof or dome. The chandelier is illuminated by colour-changing LEDs that light the 195 strings of specially cut Swarovski crystal prisms. The resulting light display is beautiful as the light refracts and reflects through the irregular assemblage and the cuts and shapes of the crystals.
The chandelier conceals the secret of a hollowed out light form that flickers through the air like a ghost in a minimalist architectural sphere. “It is a designing paradox in an industrial context. For it all begins with the desire to change the order of things, in all honesty, I’d have preferred that this chandelier be fixed to the floor and the table to the ceiling”. Piero Lissoni
Celebrated Italian architect Piero Lissoni works in all design disciplines from graphics and industrial design to architecture and interior projects such as hotels, private houses, showrooms, shops, yachts. Lissoni cultivates the art of understatement. He is often thought of as a minimalist but in reality Piero Lissoni’s aim is creating a complementary cohabitation of different styles.
ELLIPSIS AND FRAGMENTS by QUINZE & MILAN
For the second year in a row, Belgian designer Arne Quinze has been invited to contribute to Swarovski Crystal Palace. Inspired by the magic of Swarovski crystal, Quinze created Ellipsis, a sculptural light, and Fragments, a cabinet that sparkles.
The Ellipsis lights will be presented in three different sizes that mesmerize through the multiple Swarovski crystal chains which are backlit by LEDs, Staged together in Milan they create a landscape of sculptural forms. The Fragments cabinet communicates a bold and sturdy form created from which endless chains of Swarovski crystals hang lit by LED. The design language that Quinze uses fuels moods that travel beyond the ordinary.
Arne Quinze is self taught. Homeless at the age of fifteen he roamed the streets for half a year, stealing food to survive. He now produces over 15,000 pieces annually at his studio in Belgium. In addition to designs for his own label, he creates furniture for Moroso and designs more than just products: he designs installations, graphics, architecture, sportswear, perfume bottles, household accessories and more.
CAVERN COLLECTION by FREDRIKSON STALLARD
Fredrikson Stallard’s response to this year’s brief was to create a collection of solid monolithic furniture perforated by cavernous openings featuring interior surface encrusted with thousands of Swarovski crystals. These formations echo crystalline structures in geology, such as the formation of amethyst in geodes, or the spectacular “Chandelier Ballroom” recently discovered in the Lechuguilla cave in New Mexico. By creating these forms, flowing through the pieces, Fredrikson Stallard open up the internal structure and mass of the furniture, and consider it beyond simply the external aesthetics which we have become accustomed to.
Fredrikson Stallard are presenting a room-scape encompassing tables, seating, flooring and lighting. The external surfaces of the furniture pieces have been traditionally crafted in either ebonised oak or leather; others are cast in concrete retracing the origins of crystalline formations from stone. The Cavern rug, collaboration with the rug company Tai Ping, combines Swarovski crystals with traditional rug making in wool and silk and takes the form of a sculpted relief in line with the rest of the collection.
Patrik Fredrikson and Ian Stallard began their collaboration in 1995 and have since become internationally recognised as leading exponents of British Avant-Garde Design. Their cutting edge, conceptually rigorous work is highly regarded by the cognoscenti, sought after by discerning collectors, and has gained them the accolade of their work being acquired by the French National Art Collection.
DOUBLE SOLO by MARCUS TREMONTO
In Double Solo, Marcus Tremonto plays on the idea of reflection. In a traditional chandelier, crystal is used to reflect and refract light, increasing the amount of light from the source; in Tremonto’s invention, Swarovski crystal is the light source: ‘I wanted to mould the crystal like clay rather than restricting it to being a mere accent to the light source.’ By threading the EL wire with crystals he creates a half-image through a mirror; the image merges with its own form and light source to create a wholly self-contained, floating object.
Tremonto’s work is visually striking and intellectually challenging: ‘My basic media are light and technology, not oil paint or charcoal; images of lamps and forms become still lives. I want to subvert the expected purpose of the object, make it state its independence from the viewer. I am interested in the shift that occurs when objects do not fulfil the purpose of their existence, challenging the viewer to redefine their understanding of what that object is and how it functions and then how they must themselves change or adapt. The object is not subservient to the viewer but an equal.’
Marcus Tremonto began his career as an artist and successfully exhibited his work in galleries. But his fascination and enjoyment of the future soon directed him to new mediums and sculpting in materials that were born out of technological advance. Fascinated with light of modern cities, he created a series of cityscapes that render a three-dimensional abstract skyline of miniature buildings hand-cut in plastic and lit up. Phililips de Pury recently exhibited his work ‘Lightworks’ in New York.
AQUA JEWELS: CRYSTAL SHOWER & CRYSTAL MOSAIC by MARCEL WANDERS
Marcel Wanders has created a dramatic interior space in which to showcase a spectacular Swarovski crystal and Bisazza mosaic wall and his extraordinary ‘Shower Chandelier’ concept.
Sheer pale curtains will open into the showcase space to reveal a deceptive full-length mirror wall with transparent glass from the outside that reflects the brilliant Swarovski crystal and Bisazza wall mosaic to the left and allows outside spectators a full view. In low relief, especially cut Swarovski complement flecks of coloured Bisazza glass. Together they form swirling austere patterns in which a proud lion stands.
Against this dramatic backdrop, three ornate chandeliers are hung in a row from the dark draped ceiling with drips of Swarovski crystals and water, while two tiers and twelve arms of candelabra glow with the light of fiber optics. These three chandeliers are in fact showers made of chromed metal, crystal and glass fiber optics, from which slow water runs.
Marcel Wanders grew up in Boxtel, the Netherlands, and graduated cum laude from the School of the Arts Arnhem in 1988. Marcel Wanders’ fame started with his iconic Knotted Chair, which he produced for Droog Design in 1996. He is now ubiquitous, designing for B&B Italia, Bisazza, Poliform, Moroso, Flos, Boffi, Cappellini, Droog Design and Moooi of which he is also art director and co-owner.
ETERNAL by TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA
For Swarovski Crystal Palace, Tokujin Yoshioka presents Eternal – a series of acrylic chairs set with a spectacular giant Chaton-cut Swarovski Crystal. Each chair seals the brilliant beauty of the Swarovski crystal eternally and is wholly inspired by the poetic beauty of the crystal. The installation in Milan will present Eternal as a star floating and sparkling up in the night sky.
The Eternal series will be a limited edition of 41 pieces, representative of Yoshioka’s age this year.
Tokujin Yoshioka established Tokujin Yoshioka Design in 2000.He has completed many projects collaborating with Issey Miyake for almost 20 years and gained a high evaluation from all over the world, including shop designs for Issey Miyake and A-Poc. He has designed for Driade, Moroso, Vitra and was named Designer of the Year at Design Miami 2007.
For press information, including interview requests and images, please contact:
Izzy Ash, Swarovski Coporate Communications, Tel:+44 (0) 207 0166787 izzy.ash@swarovski.com
For information on Swarovski Crystal Palace and its designers please contact:
Swarovski Crystal Palace,Corporate Communications Unit, 5th Floor, 14-15 Conduit Street, London. W1S 2XJ
112 years ago, in 1895, Daniel Swarovski I, a Bohemian inventor and visionary, moved to the village of Wattens, Tyrol in Austria, with his newly-invented machine for cutting and polishing crystal jewellery stones. From these beginnings, which revolutionised the fashion world, Swarovski has grown to be the world’s leading producer of precision-cut crystal, for fashion, jewellery and more recently lighting, architecture and interiors. Today, the company, still based in Wattens, family-owned and run by 4th and 5th generation family members, has a global reach, with some 20,000 employees, a presence in over 120 countries and a turnover in 2006 of 2,37 billion Euros. Swarovski comprises two major divisions, one producing and selling loose crystals to the industry and the other creating design-driven finished products. Swarovski crystal components, known by their product brand names CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements for fashion and STRASS® Swarovski® Crystal for architecture and light, have become an essential ingredient of international design. Showing the creativity that lies at the heart of the company, Swarovski’s own-brand lines of accessories, jewellery and home décor are sold through more than 1150 Swarovski stores and concessions in all major fashion capitals, while the exclusive Daniel Swarovski accessories collection has become the company’s Couture signature. The Swarovski Crystal Society has close to 400,000 members worldwide, keen collectors of the celebrated crystal figurines. And in Wattens, Crystal Worlds, the multi-media crystal museum, has attracted over 7 million visitors since it was opened in 1995, as a celebration of Swarovski’s universe of innovation and inspiration, of crystal as the ultimate creative material. The Swarovski corporation also includes four industrial brands, Tyrolit®, manufacturing grinding tools, Swareflex, for road safety reflectors, Optik, producing precision optical instruments and Signity, Swarovski’s brand for genuine and created gemstones.
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