Massimiliano Bonoli is a special designer.The jewel is his everyday material – to create beauty to wear is what he has chosen to do in life.But his design ideas do not stop here. With an artistic training behind him and an innate curiosity that constantly leads him to experiment, Massimiliano has developed over the years a highly personal way of pursuing his vocation, as well as a personal style that distinguishes him in the luxury sector in which he has worked for a long time.In his vision, the contemporary jewel takes life in a fourth dimension, surpassing traditional parameters of aesthetics and preciousness and intensifying purely emotional values, such as wearability, lightness and sophisticated playfulness.It is a new system of beliefs where the body and the personality are at the heart of each of his projects, and this is achieved, via challenges and experimentation, due to a careful study of the engineering of the components, experimenting with new materials, and re-writing the rules of fantasy in unusual and daring shapes.In the application of industrial design to the jewel, Massimiliano finds the answers to his research.To build a highly sophisticated piece, nothing is left to chance or to the inspiration of the moment: with the methodology of a designer-mathematician, Massimiliano takes care of all aspects to do with the productive phase, seeking to provide formal, functional and technological answers within the company, and in response to its own incessant demands for innovation.

CHESS

I am a great fan of chess, and I see great similarities between chess and my vocation as a designer.In what I do, a combination of logic and creativity is necessary, in calculating the moves, and in constantly adapting as the game unfolds.Starting from the objective that I wish to attain, I prepare my strategy, via the procedures, the tools and equipment and the right people who will help me to win checkmate.

DESIGN

I am a great fan of chess, and I see great similarities between chess and my vocation as a designer.In what I do, a combination of logic and creativity is necessary, in calculating the moves, and in constantly adapting as the game unfolds.Starting from the objective that I wish to attain, I prepare my strategy, via the procedures, the tools and equipment and the right people who will help me to win checkmate.

PAVONE, EMOTION IN MOTION

Traditional diamond rings are the source of inspiration for this collection in which I tried to convey the intense thrill of discovery, disclosed beauty and the never-ending dynamics that transform everything.For the “Pavone” collection, I designed perfect invisible mechanisms that allow the elements, shiny or encrusted with diamonds, to open or close with the rhythm of the body and to make a sound at every movement of the fingers, in an endless play of balance, music and sparkle. “Pavone” jewels transform motion in emotion.

JEWEL

Today a jewel has to meet new and different needs other than the original use of pure embellishment. It cannot just be a fine object, it has to make us dream and engage the wearer in an emotional exchange. It should have an emotional and formal base that is capable to evoking a sense of trust, and that communicates, via its details, our whole identity.

RUGIADA, THE PRÊT-À-PORTER JEWEL

Bringing innovation to prêt-à-porter jewellery that remain aff ordable and also express Italian quality and beauty, turned out to be a real challenge. Th e players in “Rugiada” collection are precious materials, essential and ergonomic lines, femininity and lightness. Th e secret to its success though, lies in a technological soul that makes the jewels defy the laws of physics and lets them live in the shiny sparkles of timeless beauty. Challenge completed.

INSPIRATION

Inspiration can be a misleading word: the creative aspect of my job requires me to express my instincts and emotions as I use my ability to channel my energy in order to fulfil my ideas.Work, concentration and research allow my creative experience to be constantly new.Inspiration is that small portion of an idea that leads all the work, while every other part of me strives to fulfil it.

VULCANO, THE PRECIOUS ESSENCE OF CARBON

The quality we appreciate in a jewel is not only represented by the value of raw materials, but also by the manufacturing and the ratio between its volume and lightness. With the introduction of carbon fibres in jewellery, I intended to give the “Vulcano” collection all the potential energy of the quintessential raw material, that exists in nature in multiple molecular shapes: as a diamond, pure and transparent, or as a surface, black and thick. Pieces in the “Vulcano” collection are the pure expressions of nature’s creative force.

MATHEMATICS

Many think of mathematics as the hard and unemotional part of a job. For me, it rhymes with creativity: mathematics is the tool that, most than anything else, allows me to design the architecture, mechanisms and innovations that will give strength and vital energy to my creations.

GHIACCIO, THE NOBLE SOUL OF TITANIUM

I gave titanium credit for its rank among precious metals due to its lightness, its stability and its compatibility with our bodies. Despite the endless existing applications for titanium, ranging from the medical to aerospace industries, no-one had contemplated how it could be used in a jewellery collection to show a more sophisticated side to this metal. When designing the “Ghiaccio” collection, I invented new rules in jewellery-making: the modular shape, essential and feminine, absorbs the archetypes’ force and projects it into the future.Titianium thus achieved an honorary place in jewellery.

2010 Winner of the “Couture Award 2010”. Las Vegas: 1st place in Diamond Jewel category.

NATURE

Nature is the ultimate designer. I don’t think anybody can ever create anything new completely from scratch: when I design, I realize every line and every curve refer to historic archetypes or pre-existing shapes within the natural world. My job is just to constantly looking to recreate the perfect structures that already exist in the world around us.

INVISIBLE CUT, THE REVOLUTION OF GEMSTONES

My ambition was to subvert the established order of jewellery design that was always limited to an architectural framework that supports precious stones extracted from the natural rough.With the Invisible Cut I have wanted to re-order the work fl ow from the starting point of a new “rough” that could incorporate the tonality and shades of all natural gemstones.I have obtained great stones whose architecture I have been able to re-design, and I have obli-terated the old method of designing with precious metal, triggering a reaction of wonder and amazement, in a way that only real beauty can elicit.

2011 22nd Industrial Design Award “Compasso d’Oro” – shortlisted

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

2012 His creations were selected for “Andrea Palladio International Jewellery Award” in the category Best Jewellery Brand Collection.

2011 The special project “Invisible Cut” is shortlisted for the 22nd industrial design award “Compasso d’Oro”.

2010 He is nominated “Italian Jewellery Designer” at the UK Jewellery Awards, London.He is awarded the “Couture Design Award” (Diamonds category) at Couture, Las Vegas for the bracelet in titanium, white gold and diamonds from Mattia Cielo Ghiaccio collection.

2009 He is shortlisted as “Best Italian Jewellery Designer”, London.

2008 He is nominated “Best Young Italian Designer” at the Italian Jewellery Awards.

2003 He is shortlised at the “Trilogy Award” D.T.C.

2001 He is awarded the “Tahitian Pearls Trophy” in the category for men’s jewellery.He is awarded the “Facet Award” Signity. He is shortlisted at the internationl award promoted by the World Gold Council.

1998 Winner at the “Perle Utopia” award in the category “round pearl”.Winner at the “Perle Utopia” award in the category “ring in pearl”.

HIS CREATIONS HAVE BEEN EXHIBITED AT

2013 AlhondigaBilbao Museum in Bilbao for The new Italian Design 2.0.

2012 Bejing Industrial Center, National Taiwan and the Craft Research and Development Institute for The new Italian Design 2.0.

2011 Macro Testaccio Museum, La Pelanda , Rome.

2008 Santralistanbul modern art museum for the project Titani preziosi promoted by Triennale di Milano Design Museum.

2007 Triennale di Milano Design Museum, for the project The New Italian Design 2.0.

After a diploma from the school of art of Forli in 1993, he did a two-year Masters in design and gemmology.From 2007 to 2012 he taught a course in Higher Education in Jewellery Design at the Poli-tecnico di Milano.He has won numerous awards and accolades in the main international jewellery design com-petitions and now collaborates on a freelance basis with some of the major compagnie in the luxury sector.He lives and works in Forlì, Italy, where his own studio is located.

B O N O L I s.r.l. - C.so G. Garibaldi 94 - Palazzo Guarini, 47121 Forlì (FC) - Italy - tel. +39 0543 20110 - bonoli@massimilianobonoli.it