As a student in industrial design, Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani explored the cultural roots of Italian Design and learned how to look beyond the aesthetics of individual objects, in order to consider the project in its entirety. After kicking off his career at Fiat Style Centre in Turin, he decided to face new challenges, and driven by his lifelong passion for watches, he sent some of his designs to the Bulgari Design Center in Rome then joined Bulgari and in 2009, decided to move the Design Center to Neuchatel in order to be closer to the heart of watchmaking.
While in Geneva, as Azyaa Mode explored the House’s watchmaking novelties, we got the chance to meet the Director of the Bulgari Watches Design Center and discover his take on designing its masterpieces.
From industrial design to car design and a career at Bulgari for almost 23 years, tell us about your journey.
It was a long one, Bulgari is a very unique brand and every day is different. One day I design the most incredible Serpenti timepiece and the other I design the thinnest watch on the market, and afterwards comes the most incredible jewelry watch that we’re going to present this year during our most important event, the brand’s jewelry event in which we will be displaying incredible jewelry watches. That’s what makes the journey very unique. Coming from Rome, we have a different story comparing to the other jewelry and watchmaking brands. We are a bit in between because we are the most well-known jewelry maker and by presenting the Octo Finissimo Ultra, we are also one of the most unique watchmakers. As a designer, this is very important because we have the opportunity to draw various designs, from jewelry to watches, jewelry watches and accessories, and I love drawing sketches so that’s why it’s very interesting to me.
After taking a closer look at the watches on display, we notice beautiful works on the faces of the watches and this makes the novelties different from previous creations. How would you explain this procedure of bringing the mechanical side of the watch together with its aesthetic?
It’s the Italian way of highlighting the mechanism through aesthetics. Let’s take the Octo Finissimo watch as an example. We are now in the most important chapter of this timepiece’s journey because it has its clients now and we started to cater to the Octo Finissimo collectors by looking at the watch from a different perspective and preparing the collection for the next 10 years. So, we completely redesigned its skeleton movement and changed the finishing. Each time we produce this watch, we progress and make something new. In this new Octo Finissimo timepiece, you see more openwork execution because we are confident enough to produce such a watch and we are now able to see movements in a different way. It’s also the first time we have a platinum bracelet on the Octo Finissimo and this comes from a totally different approach. By completely changing our perspective towards the Octo Finissimo comparing to 15 years ago, we were able to change our client’s perspective of the House’s watches. And when you are able to change the comments from an aesthetic point of view to a statement, you achieve your job.
As for the ladies’ watches, they are the most difficult to draw. However, nowadays, many are the ladies that appreciate mechanical movements and a lot of women love to wear the Octo Finissimo because it’s like a second skin and it’s very comfortable. Therefore, we can say that the perception of the brand completely changed.
Looking at the great relationship that you have with the family of the House and taking into consideration the loyalty between the clients and the brand, does all of this impose more challenges to bring in new creations and build on this success?
Honestly, my brain doesn’t work this way. When I draw a sketch, I ask myself: which kind of clients does this watch address? Is there any client interested in this watch? Is it my need or that of the market? This way, I am able to add something different to the brand’s portfolio. When I ask myself these questions during the sketching session, it sometimes turns out to be just a thought that could be interesting for the future. Sometimes, ideas don’t have a shape and I love to draw sketches because I love to see the shape of things, but when the idea is just a concept, it’s difficult to give this concept a shape and when you start to give it a shape earlier than it should be, you might close the door to opportunities that could enrich the concept. When I draw sketches and realize that I am in the same direction, I try to see things in a different way because that’s what I love and when I think this way, I sometimes open the door to other ideas.
Today in 2024, can you say that Bulgari has all the categories of women and men timepieces covered?
We have a different approach on ladies’ watches. In other brands, you often find a ladies’ version of a male watch – they just change the size and replace the dial with a pink one. We don’t have this kind of approach because, for example, we don’t have a Serpenti for gentlemen. We don’t have an Octo Finissimo that was designed for ladies. We have the LVCEA that doesn’t exist in the male assortment. BVLGARI BVLGARI is the unique watch that is the same for both. But in the end, we put a lot of attention on the ladies’ side because Bulgari is a ladies’ brand, as we make a lot of jewelry and most of our offerings are as such. So, we have a very wide selection of watches, and it's very difficult to find another brand that offers timepieces such as BVLGARI BVLGARI, Serpenti with so many different ways to wear it, Octo Finissimo grand complication watches, and jewelry watches for ladies and for gentlemen.
Would you like to see a new watch with a new shape and name for the brand?
It’s difficult today to establish a new design aesthetic, you need time and enough room in the showroom. In the boutique, we have a very wide lineup but in general, we would love to design a square watch or a rectangular watch, but does it make sense with the Bulgari DNA or not? We already have a very prestigious rectangular watch on the market. The Octo was different because we were able to see ultra-thin watches from a different point of view. So, if I have to spend a lot of effort, a lot of money and a lot of time communicating to create another shape, it means that I must have something different to say. Otherwise, it will be another square watch on the market. This is dangerous today, because the client doesn’t need this. The client follows Bulgari for the Serpenti, for the Octo Finissimo, for our records in terms of incredible achievements that nobody can expect. However now is the most difficult part, not only to maintain the achievements but to see where is the creative procedure going after 10 years of Octo Finissimo and how can I create the wow effect again.
After 23 years, what is the watch that you consider as your pride and joy?
The Serpenti Tubogas and the Octo Finissimo. I made so many mistakes during my career when I joined Bulgari as I was a young designer, but this watch was born by chance and the Octo Finissimo was born without any brief because we just had a feeling about something that could be cool. The Serpenti was the same and after 6 months, I suggested we put together the Tubogas and the snake. So, we started to design this drop-shaped case without the cover and without the eyes for the first time on the Tubogas shape with this narrow tail. Today, it is a success in the watches division and the company started to see the Serpenti from a different point of view. Before this watch, the Serpenti collection was 3 high-end references like the Serpenti high jewelry watch and that was it, but today, it’s the biggest collection for the brand.
Article Written by Mirella Haddad
