Swarovski, for the first time, held its SWAROVSKI RUNWAY ROCKS edition in Mumbai on 23rd April 2008, at the Grand Hyatt. The event is an internationally acclaimed couture collection of spectacular catwalk jewels, commissioned by Swarovski from the most cutting-edge international designers in cut crystal for jewellery, fashion and interiors, to experiment with their creativity with crystals. For this edition, Indian talent was also promoted. The Indian connect was brought forth with participants Manish Arora, Rohit Bal, Surily Goel, Farah Khan, Malini Ramani, Rocky S, Tarun Tahiliani, JJ Valaya and Suneet Varma. The international designers included Collado Garcia, Zaha Hadid, Francis Mertens, Pippa Small, and the infamous "Mr Pearl".

The event displayed the previous collection highlights created by Philippe Ferrandis, Elizabeth Galton, Erik Halley, Christopher Kane, Linjing, Corto Moltedo, Jean Paul Gaultier, Luigi Scialanga, Philip Treacy, Lesley Vik Waddell, and Valentin Yudashkin. "Swarovski is thrilled to bring RUNWAY ROCKS to a vibrant and exciting destination as India, such an important jewellery market. It has been an honour to collaborate with local Indian designers and to experience their interpretation of the RUNWAY ROCKS concept, adding to the international acclaim of the collection." said Ms. Nadja Swarovski - Vice President of International Communications at Swarovski and the 5th generation descendant of the founder Mr. Daniel Swarovski.

The RUNWAY ROCKS was meant to celebrate the rarefied art of catwalk jewellery, paying homage to Swarovski’s long tradition of creative collaborations with couture, exploring form, volume, movement and light, experimenting with crystal creativity. The event backdrop was centred around the Jantar Mantar monument in Jaipur, which is unique in its scale, precision and endeavour for accuracy in the study of the Universe. The back-stage assistance was provided by MAC Cosmetics as the official make-up partner and sponsor, while Henna artist Ash Kumar was to create body art using CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements on the models.

Swarovski has rebranded its precision-cut loose crystals, as Crystallized – Swarovski Elements. Through this product brand, Swarovski celebrates its heritage of mutually creative collaborations, working hand in hand with leading world designers like Armani and Versace, Alexander McQueen and Viktor & Rolf. RUNWAY ROCKS was originally launched in London, in 2003, with a ground breaking, conceptual catwalk show, the first of its kind devoted to fashion jewellery.