Waterford Crystal Helps Ring In New Year's Eve 2020

Waterford Crystal has constructed the New Year's Eve Times Square Ball for more than two decades. This year's design is called "A Gift of Happines." Master Artisan Tom Brennan joined Yahoo! Finance to tell us why it is so important to take part this year when people are looking for a fresh start in 2021.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: New Waterford crystals are being added to the Times Square New Year's Eve ball this year. It's set to drop in just a few days as we get ready to wrap up 2020. So for more on this, we want to bring in Tom Brennan. He's Waterford Crystal's master artisan, the man behind the design that we love to look at year in and year out. Tom, just start with talking to us about how are you changing the look of the ball this year compared to what we've seen in the past?

TOM BRENNAN: Sure. Hey, everybody. Hey to all your viewers. Hope you're having a wonderful afternoon. Thanks for spending some of your time here at Waterford Crystal this afternoon.

So at the top of-- when you think of the top of this interview, you asked me about the new theme, the new design, the changes. And really every single year, Waterford Crystal introduces a brand-new theme, a brand-new design, if you will. This is actually one of the crystal panels from the Times Square ball. I can show it to you just briefly right there, which you're looking at on your screen.

So each year a new theme is introduced. This year's theme is the gift of happiness. So the iconic Waterford Times Square ball, you know, it stands as an enduring tradition. You know, it's a sign of hope, of generosity, of course, of happiness. So this is the new one for this year.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Can I tell you how much those of us who have stayed in New York since before the pandemic appreciate what you're doing? How important is it that Waterford-- you've done this for years and years and years but that you continue to do it in a year like this?

TOM BRENNAN: You know what? You're speaking my language right there because, you know, 2020 has been unprecedented. We get that. We understand it. But I find and Waterford finds just enormous comfort in enduring traditions. I mean, can you imagine-- like, everything is cancelled. Like games are cancelled and confirmations and weddings, you name it.

We did not want to cancel the Times Square ball this year because it's too important to so many people. You know, we know that there's 1.2 billion people plus this year going to be watching this around the world, and Waterford is honored to be involved, basically, in what is like the largest worldwide New Year's Eve celebration. Everybody watches that famous Waterford Crystal ball drop each and every year in New York, and we were never going to change that.

SEANA SMITH: Hey, Tom, how soon do you start planning for the next year when you're thinking about the next design that you're going to include? Not to fast forward too much, but how quickly--

TOM BRENNAN: Sure.

SEANA SMITH: --do you start thinking about that, and what exactly goes into it?

TOM BRENNAN: Well, basically we start planning-- so you're talking about fast forwarding. About the 3rd of January, the first meetings take place for the following year. And, you know, when we had a meeting this year in early January, we didn't know what 2020 was about to happen. So this year we're hoping it's going to be a little bit easier to get things across the line.

But, you know, we plan very, very early because this is a meeting of the minds. When you think of what this ball is, this is a ball that has 2,688 of these individual Waterford Crystal panels. The ball itself is 12 feet of geodesic sphere on a reinforced floor and weighs about six tons in weight. It is a logistical behemoth to bring the crystals across from our European facilities in Ireland and beyond to bring all the basics-- the hydraulics, the technicians, the master craftsmen, myself from the PR side, bringing us all together.

You know, this year has been very, very different because it was no-- very little face-to-face meetings, but we did it, and this year is going to be bigger and better than ever because you always got to reach higher. You always got to push a bit further, and that's what Waterford Crystal has done again this year in unprecedented times, of course.

ADAM SHAPIRO: And one thing, by the way, getting away from the celebration to the business.

TOM BRENNAN: Sure.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Home furnishings have actually held up in a lot of cases during this pandemic--

TOM BRENNAN: That's right.

ADAM SHAPIRO: --because people are stuck at home and realized, oh, that's kind of shabby that 1975 dumpster dive I did when I got out of school. With crystal, what have you guys been seeing? Is it art crystal that people might be using to spruce up their surroundings?

TOM BRENNAN: Yeah. Well, Waterford Crystal, we are part of the Fiskars Group. Everyone knows the name Fiskars for those famous orange scissors. So Fiskars Group is responsible for Waterford, for Wedgwood, Royal Copenhagen, Iittala, Gerber. So we are seeing a significant growth in our business, and I'll give you a prime example of that.

So I'm broadcasting here from my home here in North Carolina just outside of Charlotte. So I'm originally from Ireland. You can tell that I don't have a Southern accent, of course. But we know and I am doing as a person, I'm decorating my home. I'm putting more and more money into my home because, you know what? I'm not going on that cruise. I haven't taken that vacation. No, I can change the car next year.

So we and Waterford are seeing an explosion of our barware, of our stemware, of our beautiful Times Square ornaments over the last number of months and weeks because people are investing in themselves I think like never before, and now we have the chance to do it before we go back on the treadmill of life, which is going to be, we hope in a couple of months' time. But people are investing the time right now to make their homes as beautiful as they can, and one of the ways to do it is Waterford Crystal, of course.

SEANA SMITH: And, Tom, just going back to what you were saying before, how the pandemic has really changed this year. It's complicated--

TOM BRENNAN: Yeah.

SEANA SMITH: --everyone's--

TOM BRENNAN: Sure.

SEANA SMITH: --lives, but really it's complicated your efforts in getting the crystal ball and getting everything set and ready to go for just a few days from now. When you talk about those logistics and how tough it has been, I guess to what extent has it complicated those efforts, and then what do you guys expect the night of? Because we know it's just a limited crowd. Only so many people are going to be allowed in. Is anyone--

TOM BRENNAN: Sure.

SEANA SMITH: --from Waterford going to be there?

TOM BRENNAN: Yes and no. I mean, it is going to be a very, very limited gathering. I mean, the one thing that we want to say and to be responsible, it's not an open invite to come to Times Scare to watch the ball drop. The ball drop will be dropping and will be broadcast on television, so we're urging everybody to stay home. Be safe. Surround yourself with your loved ones. Have your champagne in your beautiful Waterford Crystal toasting to it in the comfort of your own home. So we're urging people not to do that.

You know, NYPD are going to be there. You know, we're in conversation with the state, with the city legislators, with the Times Square Alliance to make sure it's all done right and proper.

But, you know, and the entertainers are entertaining this year. I mean, Gloria Gaynor is the top, basically, artist this year, and her main song is going to be "I Will Survive." I mean, how very apt is that?

But to your earlier question about getting it all together, I mean, the one thing that really-- we haven't suffered in a sense because we regrouped pretty quickly when we knew what we could and couldn't do. But what we have done is that we couldn't have those face-to-face meetings, you know, the craftsmen from Waterford--

SEANA SMITH: Yeah.

TOM BRENNAN: --jetting across the United States and vice versa. So that has been very, very compact and very, very limited, but we do what we absolutely have to. We get all the permissions. We follow all local restrictions. We're very, very careful of what we do.

But I think the main thing here--

SEANA SMITH: Yep.

TOM BRENNAN: --is that we are sticking to the knitting. We're doing what we do well, and we want the world to celebrate--

SEANA SMITH: All right--

TOM BRENNAN: --when that famous Waterford Crystal ball drops.

SEANA SMITH: All right. Well, Tom Brennan, we thank you so much for all of your effort. Waterford Crystals master artisan, thank you so much. We wish you a very happy New Year.

Stay tuned. We have a special 2020 year-end wrap up coming up next.