warovski AG was feeling as fragile as one of its famous crystal chandeliers. For almost 120 years, the Wattens, Austria-based company glittered with luxury consumer goods such as crystal watches, stemware, jewelry, miniature sculptures, and even binoculars. But when Swarovski wanted to expand into the unchartered territory of the interior-design market at the Hospitality Design Expo & Conference in Las Vegas, it had to make sure it didn’t, well, fall flat on its glass.

Teaming up with New York’s Rockwell Group, Swarovski created a 40-by-40-foot exhibit to stimulate the show’s audience of designers with offbeat ideas on how to use the ice-like mineral. The result was a shimmering Shangri-la on the show floor. Chandeliers shaped like snow-white moons and ceiling fixtures in the shape of glittering jellyfish drew attendees like a beacon. Visitors entered the space on a limestone-tile floor sprinkled with loose crystals to create a sparkling grout. Running diagonally across the floor was a curving creek filled with thousands of crystals, then lit with blue gels to create the illusion of flowing water.

Attendees strolled over the gleaming floor to the back of the bejeweled booth, where a nylon curtain, embedded with crystals arranged to look like spraying sea foam, formed a luminous back wall. Next to it stood a 10-foot-high water fountain, where water poured down a coarse slate surface covered with crystals shaped into barnacles. Visitors rested on teak chaises, whose white-felt cushions were decorated with wafer-thin “flatback” crystals. Even the cypress stools and teak stacking tables set throughout the booth were gilded with crystals, while decorative pillows made of cork were also adorned with the glowing jewels. Needless to say, the creative design and its countless crystals made Swarovski’s booth an absolute gem.e

Client: Swarovski AG, Wattens, Austria
Design: Rockwell Group, New York
Fabrication: Orion Retail Exhibit Display, Smithfield, RI
Size: 40-by-40 feet (1,600 square feet)
Estimated Cost: $300,000
Estimated Cost/Square Foot: $188