The brainchild of former financier Alessandro Savelli, the Geneva-based brand merges high technology with traditional craftsmanship to produce what it is billing as the first luxury smartphone designed specifically for women.
Its debut collection, Jardin Secret, consists of 11 models with evocative names such as Ardent Red and Diamond Night. Characterized by curved lines, they blend exotic leathers, including blue ostrich, black alligator and pearly iguana,with 18-carat rose gold, ceramic and precious stones.
“From a design perspective, this was the objective: Creating a completely disruptive design which had nothing in common with any other phone which had ever been designed before,” Savelli said. “We wanted to create a shape that was feminine, curvaceous, but at the same time extremely modern.”
In order to achieve the desired almond shape, the entrepreneur opted for a curved screen made of the same sapphire crystal glass used for luxury watches. Savelli, whose Italian ancestors used to work in jewelry manufacturing, said half his supply chain comes from technology, the other from the watch and jewelry field. French DJ and record producer Stéphane Pompougnac developed the ringtones.
The smartphones, which run on the Google Android platform, are priced from 6,900 euros to 7,500 euros, or $9,040 to $9,830 at current exchange, for the three models in the Élégante collection,rising to 90,000 euros, or $118,000, for the Black Insane model, which is set with 75 baguette-cut diamonds.
Savelli will launch the range at a party at the Musée Jacquemart-André on July 3 co-hosted by Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, who stars in the brand’s debut advertising campaign, shot by Patrick Demarchelier. The line will go on sale in July at retailers including Printemps in Paris and Harrods in London.
Via: WWD