1. Fawaz Gruosi, founder
of de Grisogono shares his
insatiable desire to create
without constraints
Creativity,
Excellence,
Glamour
F
awaz gruosi estimates that he
has taken in about three months
of vacation out of the 21 years
of running de Grisogono.
Living out of suitcases and
hotel rooms, Gruosi lives
and breathes designing and
promoting his brand. “I am not mad. I am
just terribly in love with my
work. My passion is coming
up with new projects and
designs. This is my life,”
Gruosi professes during a
preview of his collections at
Mandarin Oriental Hotel, KL.
With a keen and genuine
interest in gemstones, Gruosi
says, “I hate that people
segregate stones into precious
and semi-precious. To me,
whatever Mother Earth gives
us is precious.” Never settling
for the ordinary, Gruosi pushes
boundaries by introducing new
ideas and materials. He single-
handedly elevated the status
and value of black diamonds when he unveiled
an entire collection of carbonado jewellery in
1996. Since then, the de Grisogono brand has
become synonymous with daring and dynamic
aesthetics. “I design for the sensual woman;
bold and exciting. Jewellery is like fashion.
You buy clothes to show off to your friends,
boyfriend or husband. You do the same with
jewellery,” explains Gruosi.
Gruosi’s latest conception, the Crazy Skull,
demonstrates de Grisogono’s dual expertise
in watchmaking and jewellery and epitomises
its spirit for innovation. The creation required
almost a year of research and development;
BOLD INNOVATION Fawaz Gruosi’s
creations are attention-grabbing and
dynamic with a sense of playfulness
nine months of which
were dedicated to
create the bespoke
mouth mechanism
that reveals a precious
tongue when triggered.
Having put
more emphasis on
the production of
timepieces in the past decade, Gruosi says
the brand will be giving equal prominence
to both jewellery and watchmaking by 2018.
In the immediate future, de Grisogono will
unveil a men’s watch at Baselworld 2015.
Despite the many successes and
recognition earned for his past jewellery
collections, Gruosi confesses that he does not
currently have an idea for his next design, “I
am always excited not for what I have done,
but for what is in my mind. So far I have
nothing but the moment I do, it will go into
the workshop immediately. One can never
imagine what de Grisogono’s next step will be
and that is the beauty of this brand.”
WORDS:JACQUELINEWONG;IMAGES:DEGRISOGONO
malaysia tatler . february 2015 147
SPOTLIGHT