{"id":11604,"date":"2026-10-22T11:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T09:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/?p=11604"},"modified":"2026-10-22T10:34:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T08:34:28","slug":"philipp-skal-swarovski-sustainability-luxury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/philipp-skal-swarovski-sustainability-luxury\/","title":{"rendered":"Philipp Skal: Rethinking Luxury Through Sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the time a product reaches our hands, much of its story has already been written.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before that come the materials, the manufacturing and the packaging. There are processes, people and decisions made throughout a value chain that we rarely see, yet all of them contribute to defining what that product represents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is where the work of Philipp Skal, Head of Sustainable Operations &amp; Products at Swarovski and Main Maker of the fourth edition of The Essence of Craft, begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With almost 25 years of experience across fashion, jewellery and luxury, Philipp has long worked at the intersection of sustainability, innovation and product. At Swarovski, his role today focuses on creating a more sustainable customer experience through products and packaging, while contributing to resilient and efficient operations across the entire value chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At The Essence of Craft, he brought a different perspective to the idea of craft: one that invites us to look at a product through everything that was required to make it possible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11841\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-140x140.jpg 140w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-1000x1000.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Foto-quadrate-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h2>Table of contents<\/h2><nav><ul><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#guardare-oltre-il-prodotto-finito\">Looking Beyond the Finished Product<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#quasi-25-anni-tra-moda-gioielleria-e-lusso\">Almost 25 Years Across Fashion, Jewellery and Luxury<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#la-sostenibilita-passa-dalle-scelte\">Sustainability Is Shaped by Decisions<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#e-il-lusso\">And What About Luxury?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#unaltra-idea-di-craft\">Another Perspective on Craft<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#il-valore-di-cio-che-non-vediamo\">The Value of What We Cannot See<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/23-8-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11823\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/23-8-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/23-8-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/23-8-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/23-8-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/23-8-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"guardare-oltre-il-prodotto-finito\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Looking Beyond the Finished Product<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the world of luxury, the product has always been at the centre. The quality of its materials, its aesthetics, its craftsmanship and the experience it creates all contribute to its value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But what happens when we broaden our perspective?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Behind every object are far more decisions than we can immediately see: the choice of materials, the way it is produced, the packaging that protects it and accompanies it to the customer. Each step belongs to a much larger system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Philipp&#8217;s work begins with precisely this perspective. At Swarovski, products and packaging are part of creating a more sustainable customer experience, while the focus extends at the same time to operations and the entire value chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sustainability, then, is no longer something that concerns only the end result. It becomes part of the process itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/26-5-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11832\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/26-5-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/26-5-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/26-5-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/26-5-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/26-5-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"quasi-25-anni-tra-moda-gioielleria-e-lusso\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Almost 25 Years Across Fashion, Jewellery and Luxury<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Philipp&#8217;s perspective has developed over almost 25 years of experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His career spans fashion, jewellery and luxury, with different roles focused on sustainability, innovation and responsible product management. Over the years, he has also contributed to work involving Avery Dennison and the Higg Index, as well as to the first publication of the Future-Fit Business Benchmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Different experiences connected by a common question: how can the principles of sustainability become a meaningful part of an organisation&#8217;s decisions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That journey continues today at Swarovski, where Philipp has contributed to the development of the company&#8217;s Sustainability Strategy 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is perhaps this breadth of experience that makes his perspective particularly relevant. Talking about sustainability inevitably means dealing with complexity: the complexity of a product, the processes that make it possible and the many decisions that take place before it ever reaches the customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/24-7-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11826\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/24-7-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/24-7-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/24-7-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/24-7-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/24-7-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"la-sostenibilita-passa-dalle-scelte\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sustainability Is Shaped by Decisions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Targets, strategies, metrics. These are often the tools we use to talk about sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At product level, however, everything becomes much more tangible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Which materials should be used? How should packaging be designed? How can operations become more efficient? How can a value chain become more resilient?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These questions concern different stages, yet they inevitably influence one another. Changing a single component can mean rethinking an established process; changing the packaging can have implications that extend far beyond the packaging itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Head of Sustainable Operations &amp; Products, Philipp works precisely across these connections: product and customer experience on one side, operational efficiency and resilience on the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is where sustainability and innovation naturally begin to converge. Looking for new solutions means questioning what already exists while preserving the quality and identity that make a product distinctive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/27-3-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11835\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/27-3-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/27-3-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/27-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/27-3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/27-3-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"e-il-lusso\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">And What About Luxury?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the luxury industry, this conversation takes on a particular significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A luxury product is created to hold value: through its quality, the experience it offers and the attention devoted to making it. Looking at it through the lens of sustainability introduces another question: how is that value created?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The answer inevitably takes us behind the scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To materials and packaging, but also to processes and to an organisation&#8217;s ability to consider its value chain as a whole. The product we see remains the final result; what changes is the attention given to everything that happened along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Philipp&#8217;s work presents sustainability in less abstract terms. It is made up of many individual decisions that, taken together, can change the way a product is conceived and made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/25-6-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11829\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/25-6-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/25-6-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/25-6-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/25-6-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/25-6-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"unaltra-idea-di-craft\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Another Perspective on Craft<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Philipp Skal&#8217;s work, the concept of craft takes on a contemporary dimension. It is not limited to what we see in the finished product, but also encompasses the knowledge, expertise and decisions behind the entire process that makes it possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Materials, packaging, operations and the value chain become part of the same story. The scale may change, but the attention given to how something is conceived, made and brought to the customer remains central. These are precisely the areas at the heart of Philipp&#8217;s role at Swarovski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is also where his professional journey meets The Essence of Craft. Craft can mean knowing a product in depth, understanding the processes behind it and continuing to question how those processes can evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Innovation, sustainability and care thus become different parts of the same way of looking at a product and its future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/28-5-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11838\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/28-5-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/28-5-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/28-5-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/28-5-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/28-5-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"il-valore-di-cio-che-non-vediamo\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Value of What We Cannot See<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Main Maker of The Essence of Craft 2026, Philipp Skal brought a perspective to the stage that begins with luxury but leads to a much broader idea: what we see of a product is only the final part of its story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before the product come the decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Decisions about materials, packaging, processes and the way an organisation builds its value chain. They may never all be visible in the finished product, but they contribute to defining its value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After almost 25 years across fashion, jewellery and luxury, it is precisely this often invisible part of the story that lies at the heart of Philipp&#8217;s work today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps this is also where part of the future of luxury lies: in continuing to create objects that can inspire emotion and endure over time, while paying ever closer attention to everything required to make them possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because every product has a story. And an important part of that story is written long before we ever get to see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By the time a product reaches our hands, much of its story has already been written. Before that come the materials, the manufacturing and the packaging. There are processes, people and decisions made throughout a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-essence-of-craft-it-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11604"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11848,"href":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11604\/revisions\/11848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themakersclub.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}