The origins of ‘Carnevale’ date back to the fifteenth century and concern the period leading up to Lent. The origins refer to the ‘farewell to meat’ … or carne vale in Italian. It wasn’t surprising to learn then that in creating the Carnevale watch Michel Benetar was influenced by the Italian Commedia dell’Arte, the ‘Arlequin’ and the triangular styling of the costume, as well as the architecture of the San Marco Cathedral in Venice.
Façonnable’s Carnevale collection clearly embodies the Italian Renaissance with its sculptured bezel so reminiscent of typical Venetian styling. Bold yet elegantly different, the watch cleverly combines the classical distant past with a highly contemporary finish. Elegantly slim as one would expect from a ladies’ watch, it comes in either a square or round format in three different finishes … set with round diamonds, or triangular blue topaz or pink rhodolite. The mother-of-pearl dial is coordinated with the stone-settings as are the interchangeable satin straps.
“2005 has been a good year for us,” Michel Benetar acknowledges, “since Façonnable has opened up in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Mexico, Venezuela, Canada and Greece. This is due partially to the fact that we have re-centred our initial offer of watches without stones to a range of 400 to 1,500 euros … and partially to the immense success we are enjoying with our various collections.”
“For 2006, we are going to bring out a remarkable new collection that marries the classic with design, a sort of bridge between watch design and textile classicism. I can’t tell you more about it now, let’s just say that time at Façonnable doesn’t stand still!”





Source: December - January 2006 Issue

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