Swarovski, Oxford Street, London W1C

IOTA was commissioned to design and manufacture the fascia for Swarovski’s flagship store on Oxford Street, London W1C.

The aesthetic brief called for a visually striking fascia, in a vertical orientation, designed to create the appearance of shimmering water when lit, such as via ambient street lighting in the evening. Functionally, the fascia was also required to provide the support structure on which to mount the illuminated store signage.

The final design is based on a structural frame and supports fabricated from 316-grade [aka ‘marine-grade’] Stainless Steel, in a flat 2B finish; infilled with over 600 Stainless Steel tubes, hand-polished to a reflective, ‘Mirror polished’ finish. It is the light striking these tubes that gives the desired shimmering water aesthetic – a look that changes and evolves, as the viewer walks past the store frontage.   

The Swarovski fascia is one example of bespoke architectural metalwork produced by IOTA. The range of bespoke architectural metalwork solutions previously supplied by IOTA includes frontages, cladding and canopies; lighting and signage; pergolas and pagodas; and handrails and balustrades.

Swarovski is the world’s premier jewellery and accessory brand, with a global reach of 3,000 stores in 170 countries, and an annual revenue of some 3 billion Euros. The company is headquartered in Wattens, Austria, and has existed as a family-owned business since its founding in 1895 by Daniel Swarovski.