Nadja was the first female member of the Executive Board of Swarovski, which was founded in Austria by her great-great-grandfather Daniel Swarovski in 1895. She led the Branding, Sustainability and Licensing divisions and launched the luxury fashion jewelry and home décor brand Atelier Swarovski.
Her career at the family business started in the mid-1990s in New York and London, when she began showcasing Swarovski’s crystal range to the fashion, jewelry, architecture, lighting and home décor industries, encouraging designers to discover crystal’s creative potential. The resulting collaborations and partnerships established her as one of the 21st century’s most significant patrons of design talent.
In fashion and jewelry, Nadja launched the Swarovski Collective in 1999 and Runway Rocks in 2003 – initiatives which supported and celebrated established and emerging designers including Hussein Chalayan, GILES, Rodarte, Erdem, Alexander Wang, Marios Schwab, Jason Wu, Mary Katrantzou, Kevin Germanier and Stephen Webster.
In design, Nadja launched Swarovski Crystal Palace in 2002, a visionary program that pushed the boundaries of lighting and design through creative collaborations with designers such as Ron Arad, Zaha Hadid, John Pawson, Tom Dixon, Ross Lovegrove, Tokujin Yoshioka, Tord Boontje, Arik Levy, Yves Béhar and Gaetano Pesce.
In 2007 Nadja launched Atelier Swarovski, a jewelry, accessories and home décor line celebrating creativity, innovation and craftsmanship. Collaborators included Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christopher Kane and Viktor & Rolf. Committed to driving positive change within the industry, she launched Atelier Swarovski Fine Jewelry in 2017, a collaboration with the actor Penélope Cruz, who designed the collections using Swarovski Created Diamonds, created gemstones and Fairtrade gold. The line embodied what Nadja terms Conscious Luxury – a new way of doing business that puts compassion and sustainability at its heart.
In 2016 Nadja was made a Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and in 2019 she received an honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts London. Nadja holds Board-level positions at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, the FIT Foundation and the German Fashion Council.
She is a Founding Patron of the London School of Architecture, a member of The Nature Conservancy’s European Council for Global Conservation, and a member of the Advisory Board at Maison de Mode and Nest. Based in London, Nadja is Chair of the Swarovski Foundation, a UK charity she established in 2013 focused on supporting creativity, promoting human empowerment and preserving the environment. Its new initiative, Creatives For Our Future, aims to help identify and accelerate the next generation of creative leaders. Devised with the United Nations Office for Partnerships, the program empowers young creatives to design new solutions to global sustainability challenges.
Nadja also heads up the Swarovski Waterschool, which teaches young people about water conservation. Both philanthropic organizations are focused on the delivery of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
