Jewelry choices are a matter of taste and those with the finest taste choose Swarovski crystal precision cut jewelry. The company behind this fine jewelry has a long and illustrious history. In 1895 Franz Weis and Armand Kosman founded the company using Daniel Swarovski’s family name and his expertise in glass cutting. In 1892 Swarovski patented his invention which was the making of a machine designed for electric glass cutting. They began by carving lead crystals in Wattens, Austria and business flourished due to Daniel Swarovski’s talent at cutting fine glass and lead crystal into fine pieces of fashionable jewelry.

Daniel Swarovski (1862-1956) was born in Bohemia which is currently the Czech Republic. His father was a glass cutter and had his own factory for glass cutting. Daniel learned the art and became skilled at it. The patented electric glass cutting machine led to lead crystal glass production in 1892. He soon found financing assistance from Armand Kosman and Franz Weis and they joined up in business. The business was conducted at Wattens, Austria because locally there was hydroelectricity available that proved useful in the grinding processes it took to run the electronic machine and grind and cut the extraordinarily beautiful lead crystal glass. The products they company put out over the years include crystal sculptures and miniatures, chandeliers, couture and jewelry, each containing the Swarovski logo. That logo originally was an edelweiss flower (a European mountain flower) but became the initials S.A.L. Then in 1988 a Swan was in favor. Now even the Swan logo is about to be phased out and replaced by the name Swarovski only. Specially applied metallic chemicals are used to coat some of the crystals, thus allowing them to refract light into a virtual rainbow of colors. Among the more popular coatings applied to this cut glass are Aurora Borealis (AB) and Crystal Transmission. The AB coating provides the surface with a rainbow like oil slick in appearance that reflects many different colors and shades of colors.

The revolution in lead crystal began in 1895 when Austrian glasscutter Daniel Swarovski patented a machine for precision cutting of crystals. He then began experimenting with making crystals themselves and, in 1913, created a formula for flawless crystals. Considered to be the finest in the world, this crystal contains a minimum of 32% lead oxide, making it very dense and maximizing the reflective properties of the crystal. Swarovski crystal is used to make many beautiful objects from fine jewelry to handbags to home accessories. However, the most beloved and delightful may be the crystal figurines.

Crystal figurines make wonderful gifts and are highly collectible, especially if made from genuine Swarovski crystal. They come in a wide variety of themes to please any collector or lover of fine objects of art. Two of the most popular objects of crystal art are birds and flowers.

Some coatings are applied more than once, creating much depth of color. The Swarovski Group incorporates several smaller companies that provide materials for making their jewelry lines. Tyrolit makes cutting and abrasive tools, while Swareflex manufactures luminous and reflective road markings. Swarovski Optik makes optical instruments like rifle scopes and crystals, and Signity is a natural and synthetic gemstone company. There is even an indoor crystal themed park known as Swarovski Kristallwelten or Crystal Worlds where the business originally began in Wattens, Austria. A society that includes many crystal enthusiast on a global scale is the Swarovski Crystal Society.

It doesn't stop there, though. Many man-made objects are also rendered in artistic replication as crystal figurines. Continuing the ocean theme, lighthouses, treasure chests and ships are very popular. And on the subject of transportation, planes, trains, trucks, and even the Starship Enterprise, make an appearance.

Through technical chemical and manufacturing processes, high-quality crystal and precision cutting techniques have allowed the creation of a fine form of art. Crystal figurines are a wonderful representation of that art and should be enjoyed by one and all.

Fine quality Crystal jewelry made with Austrian Crystals is a latest trend in a jewelry making art. Crystal jewelry is not an imitation of diamond jewelry or other precious stones jewelry. Today jewelry professionals and art connoisseur are recognizing crystal jewelry as an independent field in a modern jewelry making art. Finest pieces of crystal art can be more expensive then jewelry made with precious stones like sapphires, emeralds, rubies or even diamonds...

In 1895 Daniel Swarovski founded a factory in Austria and started production of his first crystal jewelry line. His crystals became a wonderful alternative to traditional jewelry with precious stones. The success of the new jewelry trend was amazing. Fashion minded women of Paris and St-Petersburg were surprised and delighted by the sparkle of crystal jewelry. Orders for the new “crystal diamonds†flooded the factory. Huge demand for crystal jewelry has created a new crystal manufacturing industry in Austria. Now there are many different manufactures of crystal in Austria that provide the same highest quality crystals.

The founder of this latest Crystal jewelry trend Daniel Swarovski was born in Bohemia - the home land of famous bohemian glass. Being a very well educated person he got interested in a newest at that time the science of electrical engineering and development of electrical equipment. In early 90s he invented a special machine that allowed him to reach a very high quality in crystal polishing. And few years later he invented a special mixture that gave him the ability to grow crystals of unprecedented purity and brilliance.

Appearance of the new crystal trend has started to change the public opinion about non-precious materials and broke a settled stereotype that jewelry made out of non-precious stones and metals is just an imitation. After years of transformation crystal jewelry became an important compliment of evening dresses of many celebrities like Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe and Tina Turner. Crystals became an element of scenic costumes of Brian Ferry, Michel Jackson and Britney Spears. The most prestigious fashion houses like Chanel, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci and Versace are trimming their haute couture dresses with crystals and create trendy crystal accessories.

A lot of time passed since the creator of a new crystal trend has set his high standards of quality crystals. There are new names in the crystal jewelry fashion now that continue to carry the same highest standards of modern crystal jewelry. We introduce the brightest of them - XCrystal.