The Future Through Creative Collaboration (Righi, Swarovski, Obrist) | DLD17

Thank you very much for the introduction, and please give another very warm welcome to Nadia and Pierpaolo. Yes, there could not be a better context to talk about this idea of dialogues of creative collaborations between disciplines, or as a great theory Kepler said about the fear, actually going beyond the fear of pooling knowledge, creating a pool of knowledge. Then the LDV are so many dialogues always can happen. Now I wanted to maybe begin with the beginning and ask Nadia a little bit about the very long history of such collaborations, because in a way our dialogue started exactly 10 years ago with Zaha Hadid, and we decided we would like to dedicate this panel to the memory of our dear friend Zaha Hadid, who of course worked so closely with us at the Serpentine Galleries in London. And Donna gave us our motto, which we think about every day. She said in one of the conversations we had with her also here at the LD that there should be no end to experimentation, and that very much I think can also be the motto of this panel today. Now Nadia, I wanted to ask you to tell us a little bit about your friendship with Zaha, the first collaboration of course which was the Serpentine Pavilion in 2007, and then the many, many collaborations ever since.

And I associate Zaha very much with you, and certainly that's a world of arts and architecture. And I have to say personally I feel so honored that Zaha even embraced the opportunity to work with us, to collaborate with us not just on fashion projects but also fine jewelry projects and ultimately also architecture projects. The last project we did with her was actually last March, where we launched the Crystal piece at the Sedona T-Mobile. She certainly pushed our boundaries for that piece. Zaha pushed her boundaries in terms of everything we've done with her product development, and Oscar was always very shaken by what she requested, but once we were able to create her vision it was really such a true learning for both of us. So for us that's a very good example of the stimulus that we get from the industry. The industry appreciates what we can do, and we certainly appreciate the creative vision of the industry. It's a very symbiotic relationship, and Zaha has certainly embodied that. And in the great book which you published about the history of Swarovski, long considered such creative collaborations have actually lasted for much more than a century. And it's a really wonderful book where Alice Brown found the great design critic, and you have to follow Alice Roth on Instagram, she is the best Instagram in the world. Alice Roth wrote about design after you, and this really did an extraordinary Instagram encounter we can learn every day about design. Alice wrote this introduction to your book. They haven't learned so much about the early collaborations, actually collaborations with Dior, the collaborations which then lead of course to all the collaborations you are doing. So it would be great to hear a little bit about the history, because the art historian Panofsky and I think that's very much connected to the panel and also going to discuss later about what you do with the Opera Ball in Vienna. Panofsky said the future is often invented with fragments from the past, so may be good to start with some of these fragments in the long history of Swarovski's collaborations. We've been here for 120 years, and really it was my great-grandfather who was a tremendous pioneer in terms of crystal cutting. He was very innovative, he totally embraced the first Industrial Revolution by embracing water power and then eventually electricity. Now we're in the digital era and we're certainly really trying to be always at the cutting edge in the forefront of the revolutions. But as crystal cutting was crucial, for example my grandfather Manfred would drive from Wattens to Paris for three days to visit his friend Christian Dior. And on that note I must mention my grandmother always volunteered to drive him to visit Mr. Dior's studio. But it was really Mr. Dior who set my grandfather: he wanted a stone that emanated the northern light, and as a result of that conversation came the stone called Aurora Borealis, which still is our best-selling stone so many years later. That was a very good example of how the interaction between the designer and the manufacturer is absolutely crucial. We've also had the chance to work with Coco Chanel way back when, what a fantastic visionary that mixed the gemstones with crystal with glass and so on, truly emphasizing the design was so important, not necessarily the material itself. And also Balenciaga. And actually the first customer of Swarovski was Queen Victoria via her couturier Worth based in Paris in 1895. And again, so many years later we're very excited to work with ... not forgotten Queen Elizabeth adorning her gowns with crystal.

Can you maybe tell us a little bit about the connection also to cinema, because of course there are so many incredible movies in cinema history which are connected to Swarovski? The Wizard of Oz is one example.

You know, Swarovski had such an advantage: we were pretty much the only crystal manufacturer around the turn of the last century, so anything that we see in the emergence of the silver screen, anything that we see that is meant to be a diamond was nothing but a Swarovski crystal. So yes, you're right, the slippers that Dorothy wore in The Wizard of Oz, the tiara worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, Marilyn Monroe when she performs in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and so on. And this is still a tradition that we upkeep today. Last year for example we worked with Disney, we created the Cinderella slipper. Currently we're working with Disney on the movie that's coming out in March, Beauty and the Beast. So we're truly trying to be an ingredient within the film, something that's meaningful, but certainly we're the company that helps the stars shine brighter.

And of course also this idea of artists: it was actually the late Champlain from the English artist, he said in the 1960s together with Barbara Savini that we should have our displacement wall. He said every company should have an artist inside the company to permanently challenge and basically to make it a much more creative environment. So he positioned artists as really in the core of society. This is obviously something you've been doing and which you continue so intensely today. And I wanted to ask you about one collaboration which is so legendary, which is your collaboration where you personally worked very closely with Alexander McQueen, and wanted to hear how he pushed Swarovski to new horizons.

Yes, I have to say, I personally was really trying very hard to follow the footsteps of my grandfather who worked with Christian Dior. So when I started to work in this company, I thought, well, who's my Christian Dior? And I encountered this young designer in England called Alexander McQueen. Nobody knew him. We invited him to Austria, showed him our products. And one thing that was so special about him is that he was very appreciative of raw materials. He loved leather, wood, stone, and crystal was yet one more creative ingredient for him. And what Alexander McQueen did with that crystal on the catwalk was absolutely amazing for us at Swarovski. We could not have envisioned it, and certainly it had a huge impact on the fashion industry. I think people wanted to emulate Alexander McQueen, and we certainly noticed that in terms of the crystal jewelry sales in the company. But he was a visionary, and he was a really good example of how to use the product in a very relevant, sincere, and impactful way. And that relationship kind of became a blueprint for us in terms of the barriers, the business units that we have with architecture, jewelry, and so on. We always work with the most incredible visionaries that think out of the box, that think differently, yet who are very very close to the pulse of the industry and are able to create products that are actually relevant to the consumer.

And you mentioned the design and the architecture, and it would be great to hear a little bit more about that, because you've worked with Zaha Hadid, Nöel Pêcheux, Ideat, Oscar, Ram Cole, Ron Arad. Can you tell us a little bit about some of these architecture and design collaborations, because sometimes it goes literally into crystal buildings?

That's right. Absolutely. The Crystal Palace, you use the notion of the Crystal Palace which is of course a reference to 1851. Well, I have to tell you, I was nearly fired working at Swarovski because I had this idea of reintroducing our chandelier components to the architecture industry. And I was told no, I can't do that because our chandelier components are not selling well, the chandelier is dead, and I shouldn't do it. So I thought, well, watch me and fire me if you must. So in any case, we went ahead and we did work with these amazing designers and we did exhibit the pieces at the Milan Furniture Fair. And my saving grace was the front cover of the New York Times saying that Swarovski's Crystal Palace was the most outstanding exhibition at the fair. So I wasn't fired. That person eventually left Swarovski. But sometimes it does show you have to trust your instinct, you have to listen to the designers, you have to believe in them and their creative vision. And once again, not only was it a really good creative example of what a visionary can do with a product in order to make it relevant, but it also had a financial impact. So I think the consumer nowadays is so overwhelmed with products, and it will be the beautiful and the relevant products that sell and that actually really also make a difference to people's lives.

And before we now talk about the collaboration between you and Karl Lagerfeld, I thought it would be interesting to hear from people a little bit about the history of Karl Lagerfeld's collaboration with artists, and not only the history but also the more recent projects. Can you tell us about that?

And of course the philosopher Isabelle Stengers, she uses this notion of new alliances. We permanently need new alliances with different fields to make the impossible possible. And you have many of such alliances. Can you tell us about some of these recent approaches, like Steven Villians?

And what is interesting is that sometimes creative collaborations can be very slow. Sometimes it takes years, sometimes decades for things to fall in place, and sometimes they can be instantaneous, they can be spontaneous. And it leads us now to the collaboration between Lagerfeld and Swarovski, because as you told me before, Pier Righi, it was a quite instantaneous, immediate kind of process which led to this collaboration on the Opera Ball. And yet at the same time, it's of course based on many years of dialogue. So it would be good to hear how the two of you collaborate.

Yeah, you know, again, if you look at the history that we have with Chanel, we associate that of course very much with Karl. It's amazing to see how Karl has brought Chanel into the 21st century, actually, as well as many other brands. We've had the honor to work with Karl on a Swarovski bracelet he created. But we're taking it one step further in terms of the Vienna Opera Ball, with whom Swarovski has operated or worked with for so many years – 50 years actually. And there is a system that they would like to have a cutting-edge designer create the tiaras for these debutantes. I thought it was a very interesting equation to have a fashion designer actually create this tiara, because I think a debutante today frankly stands for something slightly different than it did fifty years ago, and we feel that Karl definitely gives it that edge. What do you think?

Nadia, can you maybe say a little bit more about this process, because it's fascinating?

I mean, the Vienna Opera, we've been doing this project with the Vienna Opera for now 15 years with no zero in progress. We actually commissioned every year a contemporary artist to do the art of the iron curtain, because people spend a lot of time going up and down in front of this iron curtain, and it seemed the perfect exhibition platform. So we had figures like Olafur Eliasson over the years, Richard Hamilton, and now this year actually Tava our bar to design? And when we made an analysis of the history of the Opera, it's very astonishing that at the beginning they commissioned a lot of new operas, and over the last I would say 50 years it's mostly playing the old repertoire, very few new operas being commissioned, it's sort of decreasing. So it's very interesting in that context that all of a sudden it's possible to do something dynamic.

And would be great to hear from you a little bit what's going to happen exactly in February.

Well, I think you're absolutely right, there has been that embracing of the future but at the same time there's a sense of nostalgia for the traditional. And I think this is again tradition relevant with an ingredient of really the contemporary feeling. And I think the combination here with Karl, who has also very recently had a wonderful interpretation of the Salzburg festival within his fashion show, I think he's giving it a really beautiful spin so to speak. And what's going to happen with the debutantes? Because we're going to see, there's going to be a surprise. Also, first there is going to be a film, and then there's going to be a live surprise after a panel, and it's very connected to the debutantes.

Can you talk a little bit about what's going to happen, what they're going to see today?

We have a beautiful... I thought that was supposed to be a surprise. No, in any case, again, I have to say this collaboration is really a collaboration of art in various different areas, whether it's music, whether it's dance, whether it's fashion, whether it's jewelry. And I think all of those artistic elements certainly are there for the adornment of the individual, to take the individual through this very important ritual in this case coming out into society. And what we'll see later today is the incredible tiara created by Karl on one of the amazing debutantes stepping out into her new chapter of life.

And maybe before we see the film, I had one last question. I always think that is interesting to talk about unrealized projects, and it kind of goes back to the beginning with Zaha Hadid, because she of course talked about her extraordinary unrealized project, and then after the end of her life suddenly everything got built. And we do know a lot about architects' unrealized projects, and very often by publishing them they ultimately can get built. But we know very little about all the other fields: fashion, music, design. Also, what are the unrealized projects? I always think it's interesting to map unrealized projects. I wanted to ask you both if you've got any unrealized creative collaborations, either between the two of you or in general.

No, no, you go for it. I have to think about it first. Give me that time.

I ought to thank you so, so much. Thank you.