“Storytelling and creativity will become much more important in luxury”

Car Design News: We know Swarovski very well as a brand, of course, but the mobility side of things, perhaps not so much. So I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about what Swarovski mobility actually does.

Peter Widmann: Absolutely. Thanks, James, and big thank you for actually having me here. I think everyone knows about Swarovski from the high street jewelry world, right? The shops that we do, or potentially from what we call the b two B world, where basically we do crystals and integrate them with other brands. So this is a bit of our history, what we have done for almost the last 130 years now. Swarovski mobility is basically our automotive arm. So we have a little business on it, very beautiful one that focuses fully and entirely on automotive, where we try, and this is really our objective, we try to establish crystal as an interior and exterior design element for cars. And we have a dedicated, even a dedicated production facility to do that that is IATF certified. And we’ve been relatively new in that field a little bit more than a decade. But it’s one of the areas that belief has got a lot of potential for us, but also for establishing, basically, crystal as an element in car design.

CDN: And let’s talk a little bit about crystalline car design, because it’s not necessarily the material you would typically associate with car design or anything beyond the more decorative ideas. But you guys have been asked to infuse a kind of degree of functionality and technology into crystal. Tell us a little bit about that.

PW: Yes, indeed. And that’s actually one of the objectives that we have. We don’t only want to be an aesthetical element within the car, but we want to also combine it with function. We put a lot of effort, actually, to do that in innovation. Also pairing up with partners so that we can learn from each other. What we, for example, recently have launched and collaborated with Continental is to create new form of display. We call it the Crystal center display, and we have just launched it at CES. Conti has presented it. We have even been awarded with a price for that, for that integration, have been recognized as one of the CES Innovation award honorees. Also in Milan, we plan to actually bring something.

CDN: How much can you tell us about what you’re going to bring to Milan?

PW: Well, basically, we have quite a history of being in Milan, of being at the Salone del mobile, having a long history in the interior design world, actually, which I think Milan is fabulous in the salon del mobile is fabulous and known for what we want to bring for Swarovski mobility this year is actually an element for the event.

CDN: Right.

PW: For the air vent, an innovative element that we plan to integrate with crystal. So something that we are quite excited about. A new innovation.

CDN: With that in mind, Peter, can I make a terrible pun and ask you to gaze into your crystal ball and tell us a little bit about what you see potentially evolving in the luxury sphere?

PW: Now, obviously, there’s elements in luxury that, you know, everyone would associate luxury with. There is, of course, and if I look into luxury brands, there is, of course, the elements of heritage. There is elements of craftsmanship, or we would call it savoir faire. There is the element of quality, but also of legitimacy and heritage. This is more of the obvious ones. What I believe will become much, much more important moving forward in luxury. And it is, you know, great luxury brands do that already. Really, really well, is strong brand storytelling on the one hand, but also, you know, creativity on the other. So storytelling and creativity, I believe, will become much more important in luxury moving forward.

CDN: This is true. But you are blessed with an incredible history, well over 100 years, so there’s no shortage of stories to tell. Well, and we’re looking forward to hearing a little bit more and seeing you, actually, because you’re speaking on our panel discussion in Milan, in the Salerno. So really looking forward to seeing you there, and thank you for sparing some time today.