‘I think in volumes. I imagine in colours. I design in light.’ – summed up Fawaz Gruosi his design vision, who set the ship of de GRISOGONO onto water 25 years ago. At the vernissage at Baselworld we enjoyed browsing the milestones of this quarter of a century exhibited in the booth of the company. The story continues with charming jewellery and timepiece novelties in 2018.
The brand was established in 1993 with a boutique on Geneva’s rue du Rhône. Since then, many interesting and daring jewellery has been born out of the creative play with volumes, colours and light. The thematic displays hid famous models of the 25 years. Traditional motifs of the Mediterranean, Florence and the Byzantine Empire have inspired many jewels of the brand to feature lively, bright colours and colour combinations, eye-catching patterns, but still with a special emphasis on comfort. Fawaz Gruosi also loves black diamonds and he frequently uses them to intensify other gemstones or to accentuate the silhouettes of the most iconic collections.
In 2000, he started creating watches for both women and men. The Instrumento Uno was the first in the row with his take on a tonneau-shaped case. In 2005 the Occhio had a minute repeater complication behind its opening blades on the dial. He designed the New Retro in 2015 in the spirit of the ‘50s, which with its style is among my all-time favourites. de GRISOGONO also likes to combine gem-setting with horology in breath-taking jewellery watches. Adding a twist to it, they even brought out a smart jewellery watch with Samsung.
Celebrating Icons
The celebration would not be complete at de GRISOGONO without new models and interpretations.
The core collections such as the Allegra received novelties. The elegant Allegra Classic earrings, the bright Allegra Cruise bracelets and rings and the Allegra Glow watch have joined the family.
While its interwoven motif recalls the design of Allegra, Toi & Moi is a collection in its own right. It means “You and Me” in French and in general it refers to a piece that showcases two stones or two motifs, facing each other. de GRISOGONO strengthened the symbol of personal ties further by having two sets of intertwined diamond-set gold rings turning to each other. The new Toi & Moi line consists of a ring, a pair of earrings and a bracelet, this time with a cabochon onyx.
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Allegra Glow ring, bracelet
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Three brand new designs were also presented: the Millefoglie, the Gaïa and the Doppia.
The Millefoglie recalls the layers of a cake – crusty and delicate puff pastry generously layered with vanilla custard is what the famous Millefoglie cake is all about. The jewellers of de GRISOGONO dreamed up these layers into white or rose gold and diamonds in a form of ring, earrings, bracelet.
The Gaïa recalls the round shape of the Earth – in the Greek mythology Gaia (Earth) personified as a goddess, the daughter of Chaos. She was the mother and wife of Uranus (Heaven). These creations come in two hues; a creamy white cacholong opal (a milky white coloured opal, found in Austria, the Czech Republic, Mongolia and Uzbekistan) with diamond-set polished rose gold beads; and turquoise striking a pleasing contrast with tsavorites combined with white-gold gold beads.
The Doppia emphasises the beauty of gemstones even further with different setting techniques and sizes on a double tour. The jewels graciously wrap around the finger, wrist or ears.
The Maison didn’t disappoint the watch lovers either. Last year the company debuted New Retro models with a gorgeous blue and brown dial in two sizes: one for ladies and one for gentlemen. In 2018 new versions joined the celebrated line. We included the feminine New Retro Double Jeu in our “Girl’s don’t just wanna have fun” series, please check it out here.
New Retro Power Reserve, the second novelty in this line has a skeletonised calibre. The indicator at 12 o’clock is surrounded by the circular satin-brushed gear train, sunburst ratchet wheel and sandblasted mainplate and bridges.
The company also created jewellery timepieces such as the Cascata. This gem-setting accomplishment features dainty prongs paved with 126 brilliant-cut gems proudly bearing the 72 oval-cut stones composing a fully set watch bezel.
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New Retro Power Reserve
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We were honoured to pop in one of the High Jewellery rooms of de GRISOGONO to admire some serious eyecandys. Head over here to see them.
Photo credits: Loupiosity.com.
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