BACKGROUND
Swarovski is the maker of the luxury brand range of precision-cut lead crystal glass products. Swarovski crystal contains approximately 32% lead to maximize refraction. The Swarovski Crystal range includes crystal sculptures and miniatures, jewellery and couture, home decor and chandeliers.
In 2007 Swarovski formed a partnership with electronics giant Philips to produce the "Active-Crystals" consumer electronics range. The Active-Crystals Range includes four USB Memory keys and four In-ear headphones, all with some form of Swarovski crystal on them as decoration.
The president and chairman of Swarovski AG is Helmut Swarovski, the great grandson of Daniel Swarovski who founded the company in 1895. His 36 year old daughter, Nadja Swarovski, is the vice president of international communications. As well as being a very astute and hard working professional who "masterminded Swarovski crystal's reinvention" (Stella, 30 Sep 07), Nadja is also a tall (6 foot), attractive and very fit blonde-haired superwoman not unlike the heroine, Tania, in The Goldilocks Game. Although Nadja does not fight any villains, she combines a hectic, jet-set work schedule with looking after her two children Rigby and Thalia… and no doubt her hedge-fund manager husband, Rupert, as well.
USE OF EARRINGS IN THE GOLDILOCKS GAME
Elvin Xiu, the IRIS techie, gives Swarovski crystal earrings to Tania Likamolova as part of her first mission. Elf explains that he chose Swarovski over Tiffany because it was easier to fit a wireless transceiver inside crystals than inside diamonds. Elf also implied that, although crystals are not diamonds, the Swarovski brand was nevertheless a high fashion accessory, having been worn over the decades by well-known celebrities, such as Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'.
Elf describes the gadget earrings he has created as having noise-cancelling technology allowing Agent Jonah Bull to speak to Tania via the earrings without his voice being overheard. This is because Elf has incorporated miniature directional microphones into the large crystals in Tania's earrings. These pick up any sound coming from the phones over which Bull gives Tania her instructions; speakers in the large crystals then produce 'destructively interfering' sound waves that effectively cancel out the Bull's voice outside a radius of 2 cm from the earrings.
Find out how exactly the Swarovski earrings feature in the book by clicking here.
