sparkles in those Tyrolean mountains

In 2003, the Swarovski Crystal Palace collection visited Australia. I was working in a Sydney architecture office,  and the furniture showroom DeDeCe that shared our building, was the exhibition venue.

The ‘modern chandelier’ had been birthed with some interesting international designers such as Tord Boontje and the Campana Brothers commissioned to reinvent the concept of the chandelier and modernise it. Since then, Swarovksi have gone on to commission over 62 new designs for the Crystal Palace collection, such as Zaha Hadid, Yves Behar, DillerScofidio, and Tokujin Yoshioka.

In Innsbruck, Austria, a new boutique and mueseum has opened displaying some of the Crystal Palace pieces, in addition to showcasing the history of Swarovski crystals in Hollywood. Marilyn Monroe’s `happy birthday Mr President` dress, Lady Gaga`s crystal monster shoes displayed with Nicole Kidman’s neck piece from the film Moulin Rouge. A popular chandelier, Vincent Van Duysen`‘Cascade’  featured in the film Oceans 13, is on display.

Swarovski have since forged and rebranded itself as a modern fashion and design company.

Orson Wells great cuckoo clock speach

Harry Lime, played by Orson Wells, justifies his evil in the film The Third Man, set in post war Vienna. He states that  the greatest works of art, inventions and cultural leaps have come out of the most tyrannous of times. The example, Switzerland, had never gone to war, had only invented the cuckoo clock.

To view the film, The Third Man, click here.

To see `now and then` scenes and locations of Vienna, click here.

And film director Steven Soderbergh`s commentary about the film, here.