Daniel Swarovski

Daniel Swarovski (1862 to 1956) was a Bohemian-born Austrian businessman, glazier and jeweler, and a founder of the Swarovski crystal dynasty. Born in Georgenthal in Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire and now Jiretin pod Bukovou in the Czech Republic, he learned glass cutting in his father's small factory and was later educated in Paris and Vienna. At the 1883 Electricity Exhibition in Vienna he became interested in electricity, and in 1892 he patented an electric cutting machine that eased the production of lead crystal glass jewelry, which until then had been cut by hand. In 1895 he moved to the area now inside Austria and, with Armand Kosman and Franz Weis, formed a firm that built a crystal-cutting factory in Wattens in Tyrol, chosen for its hydroelectric power. In 1919 he founded Tyrolit to bring the grinding and polishing tools of his crystal business to a different market. His son Wilhelm founded Swarovski Optik in 1949. He received several honors in Austria and the Catholic Church.