Swarovski Mobility through “the science of innovation”

Wattens is the town of Swarovski. Nestled between a series of rugged valleys in Tyrol, Austria, it was founded by industrialist Daniel Swarovski who, in 1895, located his crystal-cutting factory there to use the electricity from the Wattenbach river.

More than a century later, Swarovski is still around and still cutting crystals on site, although the machinery is more sophisticated than the founder could have used. Business has also increased. Best known for its jewelry and high-profile collaborations with fashion brands such as Nike and Louis Vuitton, ten years ago it launched Swarovski Mobility.

For car designers in the know, Swarovski Mobility is an understandable and valuable innovation partner due to its collaborative innovation process, unrivaled expertise and successful operations. Testament to this comes in the complex lighting system of the Mercedes-Benz S-class and the welcome cooperation of BWW, which helped to define the first face of the i7. However, the experience of Swarovski Mobility penetrates the interior of the car – the team showed the switchgear concept clearly at the Salone del Mobile in Milan earlier this year – is introducing itself to a wider audience.

Creating awareness of what the Wattens team brings to the table is the current business goal. Being a household name around the world means that there are many ideas that they have. Rather than being just a decorative item, Swarovski Mobility is about putting pure functionality into the right crystals, bringing pragmatic value as well as an elevated luxury experience.

Swarovski Mobility infuses pure functionality into finely crafted crystals, bringing pragmatic value together with the ultimate luxury experience.

Those OEMs who want to collaborate with Swarovski Mobility are invited to attend design workshops at the studio to explore the unique possibilities presented by crystal.

“Crystal is a relatively new material in the industry, which means that working with them requires some understanding of how they are handled and what can be done with them. As a partner, we like to share this knowledge,” explains Peter Widmann, director of Swarovski Mobility. “We’re not going to sell you something from a catalog. We believe that if we bring creative people together, something will happen It’s good.” This can involve a designer coming up with an idea, a sketch, a translation and working with designers and scientists to discover what’s possible.

Much of the creative work takes place in the digital realm with SW capable of creating highly accurate and realistic renderings. For example, the group has its own in-house lighting engineers who can accurately predict how a property will react to lighting.

Thanks to Manufaktur, the prototyping factory of Swarovski Mobility, the business can make samples quickly and in a short time. Each crystal produced for the automotive industry is a bespoke product that has been specially developed and is designed exclusively for the intended concept. Science and magic is how Widmann describes the process.

Luxury is about telling a story. And we, as a brand, have a lot to say

This expertly crafted technique is only possible thanks to the depth of vision gained over many years of working with materials, applied rigorously in the automotive industry. To that end, Swarovski Mobility is one of the few suppliers certified by the IATF and one of the biggest areas of investment for the business is innovation. The business likes to collaborate with like-minded automotive professionals.

At CES 2024, Swarovski Mobility revealed a display concept developed with Continental that saw an active screen encased in a stunning crystal case. The combination of high-tech innovation and elegantly attractive aesthetics breaks the innovation and strategic direction of Swarovski Mobility.

An overlooked aspect of crystal is its durability – the material cannot be underestimated – but there is no doubt that the haptic and aesthetic speak of a high level of luxury. Thanks to face-to-face feedback from visiting designers at Wattens, the business launched a major survey to determine what value is placed on the brand in the automotive industry. The results made for encouraging reading confirming high consumer interest and willingness to pay more for Swarovski brand specs.

The power of the brand is provided by Swarovski. Fewer businesses are closely related to the raw materials they work with. Widmann says: “Crystal and Swarovski are one and the same. There is no doubt that Swarovski’s story has taken a long time to focus on laser cutting machines that keep them at the top of their business. This goes hand in hand with A deep appreciation of its history, combining stability with innovation and creativity.