Collaboration with Audemars Piguet 2011

The workshop in collaboration with the watch was carried out over an entire year by students in the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL) under the supervision of French designer Ronan Bourroullec. Students were asked to give free rein to their imaginations and shake up a bit the brand’s DNA, designing pieces that would be inspired by the Millenary collection, the Royal Oak and the Royal Oak Offshore. They naturally came up with bold ideas that were nonetheless perfectly respectful of the codes that govern the world of Audemars Piguet.

“Mineral” from Sophie Depéry is a reinterpretation of the Royal Oak model inspired by marks carved by glaciers on rocks. The case is made out of one solid block of stainless steel assembled from the back. The watch is entirely hand engraved.

“Gold shell” from Japanese student Fumiko Ito is a poetic representation of natural structures and landscapes. On the face of Gold Shell, each layer symbolizes the accumulation of time and is shaped by incomparable craftsmanship. Sensitive diamond arrangements bring you to a meditational aspect of time, the innate transience of which is evident in the delicate feeling of this watch. Gold Shell carved Audemars Piguet’s brilliant history and also start to curve our own future. “Gold Shell” is inspired by the changing and layering of nature through time. Each layer represents a slice of Audemars Piguet’s evolutionary history and diamonds highlight its glory moments.

For « Black Box » from Canadian student Guillaume Noiseux, the comes from a black box, the mysterious, indestructible object that records the going-ons of flights throughout the world. In this perspective, the goal was to create a capsule to hold the Audemars Piguet 3120 caliber, protect it and also display it, so it will keep going hundreds of years.

ECAL, Audemars Piguet — MINERAL ECAL/Sophie Depéry

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