Out of all the company visits I was definitely the most excited to visit Swarovski Crystals while in Innsbruck, Austria. So I was happy to find out that I was assigned to research and present this company to everyone on the bus ride there. When we got to Swarovski, we were greeted by a large mouse sculpture. We later learned that this was their very first figurine design and it is symbolic of the beginning of their animal collection.
We sat in on a presentation about the company and it was super interesting! We learned that they are a family-owned business that invented a unique crystal cutting technique that is very secretive to their company. Swarovski uses their crystals in many creative ways to create various products such as jewelry, fashion, figurines, binoculars and more.
After the presentation, we went outside to see the Swarovski Giant with a waterfall cascading from his mouth. It was designed in 1995 to celebrate the company’s hundredth year anniversary. It was truly a breathtaking view with all the surrounding mountains in the background.
After a group photo, we all made our way into Crystal World. I love crystals and have a collection of mine own at home, so when I found out they have the largest hand-cut crystal here I knew I had to see it. It has 100 facets (310,000 carats). It was so big; I was curious to know how much it would be worth if they sold it. I asked a Swarovski employee and to my surprise, they responded, “why, it is simply priceless.”
In total, there were 16 rooms in the Crystal World. Each had a unique theme of its own. I could have spent all day there, there was so much to look at. My group and I made our way to the gift shop where we could buy our friends and family something nice. Even the gift shop had massive displays of crystals and life-size figurines.
After that, we went outside to look at the crystal clouds in the pond. I was sad it was cloudy out so we couldn’t see all the shining crystals in the sun. It started raining a little bit too, but it was the most peaceful rain that you could walk in outside. Everything was just so green and the smell of the rain and mountains was so fresh. Overall, I had an amazing experience here and would love to come back to visit again one day!
