She is the great-great-granddaughter of Daniel Swarovski, the man who in 1891 began working on a brilliant-cut crystal stone fashioned after a diamond. The company he founded is the basis for the modern Swarovski crystal company that provides thousands of stones in different colors and shapes to jewelers, artists, chandelier-makers, home decorators and fashion designers.

Nadja Swarovski is in charge of international communications and she serves as the liaison to the fashion community. Runway Rocks, a catwalk show held during New York Fashion Week that features crystal creations by top jewelers and designers including Erickson Beamon, Peter Som and Proenza Schouler, and Swarovski's sponsorship of the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards are two of her pet projects.

"I'm the first female (in the family) obsessed with fashion, that's probably why - until me there was not as much emphasis on the fashion of our stones," she explains.

"I love the magic of stones, and I have since I started playing with bracelets when I was a little girl," says Swarovski, interviewed at the Swarovski Creative Service Center on Manhattan's 57th Street, one of New York's most fashionable shopping streets. The center is set up like a penny-candy shop that encourages designers to sample stones that could embellish their clothes.

"It was hard to convince designers to work with crystals at first. They didn't know how to use them. But crystals can be sewed on, used for crystal mesh or as a chain," Swarovski says. (Swarovski invented the crystal-mesh fabric in 1993.)

The tide turned following a collaboration with Alexander McQueen in the late 1990s. "He used crystals in such fantastic ways," she gushes.

Swarovski says she admires how each designer can make the crystals fit with their image: Dolce & Gabbana uses the stones to create super-sexy pieces; Giorgio Armani uses them in "an incredibly elegant" way; Oscar de la Renta uses them with his trademark craftsmanship; and up-and-comer Zac Posen had an entirely new take, gluing the crystals onto fabric.

But while there was an absence of crystals on garments during the last part of the 20th century, Swarovski does, in fact, have a long history working with couturiers.

In the 1920s and '30s when flappers wore sparkly dresses and art-deco jewelers jazzed up their clean lines with shine, both looked to crystals which were a lot less expensive than diamonds, Swarovski says. And since up until 20 years ago all the other major producers of crystals were housed behind the Iron Curtain, Swarovski basically had a monopoly on the market.

Hollywood also has always loved glitz, and Swarovski helped make tiaras for Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn, the "ruby" slippers that Dorothy wore in The Wizard of Oz and the sexy gown that Marilyn Monroe wore to sing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to President Kennedy in 1962.

"People want to sparkle and shine, our product is a happy association for a lot of people," says Swarovski.

"Most fashion' isn't to go unnoticed," Swarovski says. "Any adornment is decoration. The volume is your choice."

She adds, "We do try to get away from that Liberace glittery-piano image."

But while she is a fan of the fashion that the company helps turn out, Swarovski, who seems to prefer chic, understated clothes for herself, says she's more proud of the company's heritage.

One hundred years ago, Daniel Swarovski had patented his crystal-cutting machine that made it possible to turn out stones quickly, without flaws and with a brilliance that came with a greater refractive index.

The machine remains the strength of the company oday, with the fifth-generation stone cutters who work at the company's headquarters in Wattens, Austria, equally as valuable, Swarovski says. Those workers share her appreciation with perfection, she adds.

"If your last name is the name of the company, you want to be sure the quality is good."