Tord Boontje
Designer Tord Boontje was born in Enschede, the Netherlands in 1968 and studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven and the Royal College of Art in London, where he founded Studio Tord Boontje in 1996. He has since worked on a range of innovative lighting, furniture, textile, and graphic designs for international companies.
He has enjoyed a long-standing collaboration with Swarovski. Boontje designed the Blossom chandelier for the Swarovski Crystal Palace, jewelry for Atelier Swarovski, and the Winter Wonderland installation that was displayed at the Swarovski Kristallwelten Store Innsbruck from 2006 to 2010. For the Swarovski Kristallwelten in Wattens, he created, among other things, a star for the Christmas tree as well as luminous figures that are distributed throughout the park for the Winter Wonderland.
The nearly four-meter-tall crystal tree currently on display in the “Silent Light” Chamber of Wonder was born from a creative collaboration between Tord Boontje and fashion designer Alexander McQueen. It was first exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2003.
Eternal winter magic and real snow by Tord Boontje and TechnoAlpin
Tord Boontje and Alexander McQueen collaborated more than 15 years ago to create the crystal tree for “Silent Light.” They spent several years developing the crystal-covered tree, which became the sparkling centerpiece of a snowy winter wonderland in 2020, adorned with 150,000 crystals. This poetic snow installation creates real snow all year long, while challenging us to consider the fragility and fleeting nature of our environment.
The temperature in the Chamber of Wonder can drop down to -10° Celsius.
