Sensuous Simplicity

Being the creative mind behind Bulgari’s timepieces, Fabrizio Buonamassa believes that timelessness is synonymous with luxury, writes Lily Ong

The senior director of the Watches Design Centre for Bulgari is a thinker. Yet, this is not to say Fabrizio Buonamassa is always distracted. A detailed observer, Buonamassa takes great pains in always being aware of his surroundings as well. “Every single day and every single minute, my ‘hard drive’ is always switched on,” he grins, pointing to his head. Born in Naples in 1971, Buonamassa pursued a degree in industrial design to further his passion for the arts. “I have been drawing since I was four years old and I would be drawing for about 14 to 20 hours when I am inspired,” he shares. While schoolboys of youth would often be doodling cartoons, he would be drawing cars and watches instead. After his tertiary education, he started his design career in the automotive industry at Fiat Centro Stile. He was an active participant in the evolution of the interiors of Fiat Stilo and Alfa Romeo 156 and he has even lectured at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Turin. At the end of 2000, Buonamassa sent some sketches to Paolo Bulgari, who hired him almost immediately. After five years, he left the brand to open his own design studio in Milan in 2006 before returning in 2007 to helm Bulgari’s Watches Design Centre. Buonamassa sees himself as a designer in the strictest sense of the word. His talent for sketching as well as his natural creativity and cerebral nature made him a perfect fit as the driving force at the helm of Bulgari’s watch design division. “A designer is not someone who just puts shapes on a piece of paper. We have to think hard about the product’s needs and direction before the shape and design comes in. We have to talk about the DNA of the product and the brand. Because really, there is no point in designing the best watch in the market when it doesn’t adhere to Bulgari’s aesthetic codes,” he says. What exactly is Bulgari’s design codes? In answer, he whips out a clean sheet of paper and a pen from his pocket to draw an immaculate sketch of the brand’s iconic Lucea timepiece. “The DNA of Bulgari is not only in its logo, it is in the sense of proportion, shapes and geometry that has been Bulgari’s heritage for more than 131 years,” he explains. Holding up his sketch of a Lucea timepiece, he says, “Take this bracelet from the Lucea watch, for example. The lines you see here are from our archives and have become very much part of our legacy. My duty is to play with geometric elements and pure shapes in a sensual and contemporary way without losing