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In this partnership we set out to make circularity a practical, implementable strategy for Swarovski, we built knowledge internally and helped shift mindsets from designing linear products to circular products.
As part of the process, we explored the circular design of jewellery comprehensibly and holistically within the Swarovski brand – this marks significant progress for the commercial Jewellery sector, which so far, has limited exploration into the topic. The project created many meaningful outputs including a circular design framework, a jewellery collection and a Circular Design Playbook.
Project Summary
Our collaboration with Swarovski has been a rich and hands-on journey into circular practice, learning, and design. Through this four-stage project, we began by exploring existing ways of working, capturing key insights in a scoping report that helped shape the direction of the partnership. We then co-created a circular design framework and brought it to life through in-house knowledge-building workshops.
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Together, we developed Swarovski’s first circular design brief and supported designers throughout the programme, helping turn ideas into a jewellery collection shaped by circular design principles. Finally, we gathered the learnings from across the project, alongside Swarovski’s ongoing work and the design framework, to create a practical and accessible Circular Design Playbook that will continue to guide circular design at the company.
Exploring Circular Design in jewellery in partnership with Swarovski
We have completed a long-term partnership with Swarovski centred around circular design.
Bringing Circular Design to Life
This partnership has been an incredible opportunity for CSF and Swarovski to engage in circular jewellery design. We co-designed and successfully delivered a multi-year programme, that embedded mindset shifts and behavioural change using knowledge, innovative solutions and supportive guidance.
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We undertook a knowledge building workshop and a skills building workshop with the task force team, including people from design, sustainability, marketing, quality, product development and prototyping. The latter of the workshops was held at Swarovski’s facility in Wattens, Austria, where their crystals are produced. It was a great opportunity to see the workings of the company and their operation first hand. With the Swarovski Sustainability team, we co-created a circular design brief - the first of its kind at Swarovski - and worked closely with the design team to create a collection and a project on circularity.
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Throughout the project we provided mentoring, guidance and supportive work while Swarovski conducted prototyping, adapting internal practices to aid circularity and engage in continual learning and exploration into circularity. Together, we have built a strong circular design framework for Swarovski that reflects the product and the ways of working at the company.
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CSF’s effective knowledge and skills building has helped employees foster their approach to circularity by teaching them the principles of the subject and giving them the opportunity to explore circularity. By assembling the task force team, we have facilitated the creation of new connections and collaborations between internal teams that has led to the advancement in circular thinking and action at the company.
Project Outputs
The programme resulted in many successful outcomes, including Swarovski’s first circularity-led collection to date, Chroma Twist, as well as a Circular Design Playbook, and the honour of being shortlisted for the University of the Arts London (UAL) Knowledge Exchange Award in 2024.
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The Chroma Twist collection is a 6-piece collection including two necklaces, a ring, a bracelet, a pendant and earrings. The collection embraces circular design strategies through material choices, including Swarovski
ReCreated™ crystals made from breakage from the crystal manufacturing process, metals from recycled sources, as well as incorporates design features for easier repair. Versatility is a core element of the collection, extending product longevity and supporting a more sustainable lifecycle.
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The collection demonstrates how circular practices can be effectively integrated into design and production to bring commercially viable products to market. Through CSF’s guidance of the collection’s development, the cross-functional Swarovski team gained new capabilities, shifted mindsets, and embed circularity into their product innovation.
Swarovski's Chroma Twist collection. Image courtesy of Swarovski.
The Circular Design Playbook is a complete guide to designing for circularity at Swarovski. The Playbook is written for the design, marketing, product development and anyone at Swarovski wanting to learn about implementing
circular practices into products. This Playbook is a tool for them to continually refer to and evolve on their
circular journey.
Project Team
Constance Jeffreys, Project Lead and Knowledge Exchange Associate (Sustainability)
Funder
Contact for the project
Jade McSorley, Head of Knowledge Exchange (Sustainability), j.mcsorley@arts.ac.uk
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