What does it take to bring bling to Budapest?

Stella Komlósi likes sparkles more than most people. In fact, she loves sparkles. "Yes, I love sparkles! I love them!" the Budapest entrepreneur says enthusiastically.

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Hungarian entrepreneur Stella Komlósi started her company, Sparks by Stella, during the 15 years she lived in the United States. When she moved back to Budapest a year ago, she returned with a passion for all that shines.

Her business is making the world sparkle, literally. Komlósi adorns people's accessories with Swarovski crystals: think encrusted mobile phones, pens, iPods and Blackberrys. Her pink and purple website, sparksbystella.com, espouses her goal to "make functional things sparkle."

She spent the last fifteen years in the United States, where she says "blinging" is very popular. Bling is an American slang word used to describe the imaginary sound that jewelry makes when light hits it - bling! When rappers and celebrities began wearing and celebrating bling, related flashy accessories became a widespread fad.

Komlósi first jumped on the bling bandwagon by putting stickers of jewels on her phone.

"But the problem was, if you have the tendency to talk for a long time like I do then the stickers will get all moist and fall off. And it isn't pretty when the glue gets all grimy," she adds

With a little self-instruction and special glue, Komlósi started gilding her own electronic accessories with Swarovski crystals. It wasn't long before she was selling her services in Florida and Houston, Texas. Soon, Komlósi was beautifying everything from pens to portable hard drives. "It's adding personality," she says.

"The more it sparkles, the more I like it. Eventually, you want to crystallize the whole world."

If her year doing business in Hungary is any indicator, however, achieving global sparkle won't be easy.

"Here, well, it's been hard," she says. "I get phone calls [about the service] but in the end no one wants [to buy it]."

Adorning a mobile phone costs approximately Ft 150,000 (€600), and this does not include the price of the phone. Komlósi only beautifies items that are already owned by her clients. Prices vary depending on the size of the crystal and the intricacy of the design, she says, but she offers a year guarantee on her work.

Given the relative lack of interest in sparkle in Hungary, Komlósi is surprised to hear that the Aqva Lounge at the Marriott Hotel sells Bling H2O, water in a glass bottle that is adorned with Swarovski crystals which retails at Ft 18,000 (€71).

"I didn't think that would be here! Maybe more people like sparkles than I thought," she says gleefully. "Let's face it, I like everything that sparkles and I'm thinking soon more Hungarians will too."

To see what her sparkles look like in person, check out examples of Sparks By Stella at Silver Crystal on Váci utca and C.R.E.A.M GSM in Westend City Center.

In the meantime, as Komlósi signs off: "have a sparking day."

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