Seize the day with the Swiss luxury watch and jewellery house de Grisogono
When it was announced at the turn of the year that Fawaz Gruosi was stepping away from the company he had founded 25 years before, it closed an extraordinary chapter in fine jewellery. The man who created de Grisogono in Geneva in 1993 was a character of peculiar flair and élan, a jet-setter who courted celebrity and never missed an opportunity to press his own footprint into the red carpet.
Over a quarter of a century, he transformed a small jewellery company into one of the world’s most glamorous luxury maisons. Gruosi decorated the stars in his jewellery, hosted elaborate parties for the A list of film and fashion, and as often as possible would make sure to be photographed in the middle of a line-up of beautiful women, all clad in his favourite colour – black. He was even known as the ‘King of Black Diamonds’.
Sharon Stone, Carla Delevingne, Freida Pinto, Zoe Saldana and Sarah Jessica Parkerhave all been seduced by de Grisogono, while over the last quarter of a century, many of the most exclusive parties across the Med, from the Côte d'Azur to Porto Cervohave been hosted by Gruosi, who was both his company’s founder and creative director.
He leaves a kinetic legacy. De Grisogono’s bold, often oversized creations have helped shape modern luxury. By its own admission, its guiding principles are ‘impulsiveness, intuition and impatience’, a fiery mix that has injected some much-needed zest into the fine jewellery industry.
And for all that it may sound it, de Grisogono is never garish or inappropriate. It might sound impetuous, but its pieces are considered and the hand of the craftsman has clearly touched everything it creates, from the simplest ring to the most extravagant timepiece.
Here are five pieces to set the heart racing.
