Swarovski Crystal Palace 2010

At this year’s Milan Design Week 2010, Swarovski commissioned five separate artists to each apply their own respective take on the famous ornamental crystal brand. Included were Tokujin Yoshioka, Gwenaël Nicolas, Vincent van Duysen, Rogier van der Heide and Yves Béhar. Each creative produced some stunning work as they worked with the notion of re-designing a room to reflect the beauty of palaces around the world. Japanese artist Tokujin Yoshioka’s interpretation was titled Stellar and featured an LED infused ball of crystals. Gwenaël Nicolas’s Sparks also incorporated LEDs into a free-floating spherical ball. Rogier van der Heide’s Dream Cloud was comprised of crystals hanging from above a tulip garden. Vincent van Duysen’s work featured suspended rods of crystals within a mirrored room which effectively created the illusion of a room full of crystal encrusted rods. Rounding out the interpretations was Yves Béhar and his Amplified room which looked to unite technology and Swarovski crystals through a simple medium resulting in paper lanterns with crystals positioned within, each reflecting light against the lantern body. At the conclusion of the installations was a room featuring designers for the Swarovski Crystal Palace project over the last eight years.