swarovski

My, how times do change. Ten years ago, a respectable pirate wouldn't have been caught dead in a wristwatch adorned with a skull-and-crossbones made out of Swarovski crystals, even if he'd plundered it off the most bad-ass seagoing merchant in the West Indies. Sure, he could explain all he wanted that he'd had to use two rapiers, a cutlass, and a two-by-four to obtain it, and that the fight for the watch took place in a swamp filled with fifteen-foot-long alligators and a small but highly dangerous population of the elusive Puerto Rican Swamp Shark.

Yeah, it … Read more

When we think of gadgets and crystal, the name Swarovski invariably comes to mind. (We hope this doesn't say more about us than anything else.) So it is with great pleasure that we're able to mention an adorned item that doesn't have anything to do with the dreaded House of S.

The "Tivoli Model One" radio is encased in handcrafted crystal designed by Scandanavian artist Per B. Sundberg, according to Techabob, in limited-edition form. Very limited, in fact--only 30 of them are available at ScandinavianDesign, and for good reason. They cost $4,200 each.

That'… Read more

Say it ain't so, Sony. The standard bearer for decades in defining good taste in consumer electronics has gone Swarovski on us.

It's hardly the first design leader to fall under the garish crystalline spell. First Philips, then the iPhone and now Sony's E-Series MP3 players have fallen victim to the trend with its "Walkman Abiste" model. As if that weren't bad enough, Digital World Tokyo says the Swarovski-studded stick players will be available in blue, gold, pink and violet, as well as black, when they're released in September on the Japanese market.… Read more

There's obnoxiousness, and then there's this. We've known for ages that the best way to show off your innate tech-tackiness is to drown your gadgets in Swarovski crystals. But we thought that Apple's new iPhone--with its Zen-like simplicity (No keyboard! Who would've guessed?) and the company's affinity for stripped down design in everything from its laptops to its marketing campaigns--might be immune somehow from this epidemic.

But, apparently not, thanks to a Web site called Crystal Icing, which in the past has showcased its ability to pimp out everything from Sidekicks to sneakers … Read more

Seeing yesterday's $10,000 phone reminded us (unfortunately) of the leopard-spotted diamond Krzr from the same designer, as well as a perfectly matching mouse from Saks. It then occurred to us: These fancy designers aren't the only ones who can come up with audaciously ugly phones and mice.

Textually.org, for example, notes that Amosu.com will "customize your cell phone with diamonds, gold or white gold or make one unique piece according to your specification." And for your bejeweled mouse, Gadget Candy suggests U.K.-based The Crystal Chick, which will create "Brit-born babies&… Read more

As amazing as it seems, the Swarovski is capable of putting its crystal-studded name on products that aren't totally disgusting. Even though its latest USB key is still a bit garish, the glass house co-produced some subtly designed earphones as part of its newly released "Active Crystals" products. (Perhaps it's the influence of Philips, which is co-branding the line.)

The four new sets--"Space," "Icon," "Amazone" and "Mirage"--come in polished silver and four crystal cuts, including navette and baguette. (Tiffany, eat your heart out.) Gadget Candy approves: &… Read more

It's been nearly a week (gasp) since our last post on a Swarovski-encrusted item, and we don't want to be as irresponsible as we were with our recent lapse in pink products. Crave collegue Caroline McCarthy was quick to scold us for the latter transgression.

So to fulfill our bling-laden obligation, we offer the "Active Crystals" line of fashion USB keys from Philips. Gadget Candy says there are four models: "Heart Ware, Heart Beat, Lock In and Lock Out"--the first two designed as pendants, the last two as keychain attachments. Each stores a … Read more

We don't know if Paris Hilton had anything to do with this, but we wouldn't be surprised. Nintendo was apparently so enthralled with her Swarovski puppy design that it's decided to extend the frightful concept to other DS Lite models, tarring the image of the venerable brothers Mario among other characters. Luxurylaunches reports that each of the custom items, on display at the Nintendo World store in Manhattan, is covered with $600 of the infernal stones. The good news: They're not for sale.

It's apparently not enough for Swarovski to ruin good taste. According to Red Ferret, it wants to play a part in trashing vinyl records as well.

Swarovski has taken its crystal-making juggernaut to this self-running record player, aptly named the "Vinyl Killer," complete with its own needle, speaker and amplifier. But even though its VW bus design would seem perfect for playing your old LPs, we wouldn't recommend using it on your Stones collection. (Get it? Stones?)

Besides, if you're willing to shell out $487 for this thing, you might want to keep it on … Read more