Ten years ago, Fawaz Gruosi created his Allegra collection, an ode to his daughter’s joie de vivre, and a homage to the magic of jewellery, with its light-filled vibrancy.
Fawaz Gruosi has decided this year to dedicate a watch to Allegra. A lucky charm from a father whose waking dreams, days, and nights are filled with scintillating gemstones and dazzling colours.
The inspiration behind a collection
"The first Allegra piece I designed eleven years ago was born of an imbroglio of feelings, attachments, dreams, and visions, Fawaz Gruosi remembers. Modern life tends to disperse our energies like a vortex drawing us inward, we can easily lose sight of essentials.
From a very early age on, my ambitions nurtured and obsessed me. This quest to create, to build, and to succeed, continues to drive me to this day. I was also a very young man when I became a father for the first time, I can still remember the sense of calm pervading the room where I first held Allegra, the soft warmth of light, the blissfulness of silence. The contrast between these two aspects of my life – impetuosity versus serenity, work versus family – and the constant questioning of where one should be and what one should be, were confusing issues and complex emotions that I had to deal with; but then again, a fantastic source of inspiration.
The Allegra collection is the showpiece which emerges out of this complex web, this boiling mass of ideas and feelings, but it also illustrates the harmony and sense of fulfillment that only fatherhood can bring. The Allegra collection is a symbol – my symbol – of life and love, made of all sorts of ties, some more important than others, but all forever united and entwined. Full, solid bonds of gold and leather – as colourful as life, and as vibrant as love. Rings, bracelets, earrings, pendants, and now a watch: the collection is complete, and I am proud of it."
The square represents the essence of Fawaz Gruosi’s watchmaking style, even more than the circle. The Allegra watch is a double square - made of PVD steel, white gold or pink gold - encircled with precious stones - diamonds, emeralds, pink and red spinels, yellow tsavorites, orange, yellow and pink sapphires, amethysts...
In deciding how to place this double square on the wrist, Fawaz Gruosi recaptured the essence of wristwatches of the 1930s when the stars of the silver screen wore precious wristwatches on delicate cords.
There is a distinct Hollywood flavour to the firework array of coloured straps gracing the new Allegra collection: a spirit of dolce vita, of joie de vivre, which is renewed daily...
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