Andrea Caputo, – VP Marketing of Rado we had the pleasure to interview last year at the Rado Star Prize, defined the brand strategy as “cross-fertilization”. That strategy, that is all about drawing inspiration from fields that are not strictly related to watch-making, has reaffirmed once again Rado‘s position as a trend-setter as much as it is already a leader in product innovation, this year.
That project added a new chapter this year by linking Rado watches with Grandi Giardini Italiani, an organization led by Judith Wade, that looks after our artistic heritage and that, as Judith underlined during the press event dinner held the 24 May at Villa Gamberaia, does not just preserve the Italian artistic heritage but safeguards also our tradition in creating beautiful gardens, animated by perfect geometries that surround the seemingly imperfect ones offered by our nature.
Villa Gamberaia, the home to the Rado True Thinline Nature Collection
There are plenty of historic villas in Italy and many of them, along with their gardens, are actually curated by Grandi Giardini Italiani: the organization looks after 135 buildings, located across 12 different Italian regions, that are visited every year by 8 million people, a number that testifies the unstoppable passion for our artistic heritage.
On the occasion of the International Press Launch of the True Thinline Nature collection, Rado chose Villa Gamberaia, a splendid villa built in the early ‘600, which offers a privileged view over Florence and the Valley of river Arno (and where you can also rent a room and spend, if you prefer, your holidays), as a location for the event.
Proof positive of the organization’s committment in preserving such gardens and in fostering the culture of garden’s care and restoration, Grandi Giardini Italiani organizes every year garden-design-related workshops. Villa Gamberaia has been chosen by Rado as the location to host the International Press Media representatives and officially launch the True Thinline Nature collection, whereas Horbiter® has been officially assigned by the Italian head office of the Swiss brand the task to cover the event, – we have successfully summarized in a video that celebrates the union between the nature of the gardens and the True Thinline collection.
About the Nature Collection
The Rado True Thinline is not simply the thinnest ceramic watch in the world and is not any news in Rado current offering; the big news here is the launch of the new Nature Collection that boasts a list of intriguing new features. If last year’s offering of Special Edition models was based on new designs like the Rado True Stratum and the Rado True Phospho for example, Rado has this year instead enhanced the standard collection design by adding new color hues and aesthetic new finishes to symbolize the main elements of nature: the leaves, the earth and the oceans.
The ceramic one-piece case is thus presented in new colors and dials you might appreciate much more in the gardens of Villa Gamberaia than in any meeting room at Baselworld 2018. Rado has in summary created three versions: a green, a blue and a brown one respectively.
In the first two cases, the dial is mother–of–pearl with a leaf–like texture and a sea–wave pattern respectively, whereas the brown ceramic version features a diamond–dust dial. The Rado logo, placed on the glass, looks like it’s somehow floating over the dial. The “ramage” effect on the dial of the Rado True Thinline Nature green is, in particular, simply spectacular.
Rado is not new to these experiments. Viceversa, as I stressed more than once, it represents an unstoppable laboratory of new ideas and innovative materials, in the constant search for the out-of-ordinary. Another example of this on-going process is the Rado Ceramica, recently revamped by Konstantin Grcic, whose latest model was displayed inside the rooms of Villa Gamberaia alongside the models that have made the history of this collection.
Kasia Smutniak, Rado’s muse
Kasia appeared in our video and added a touch of beauty and elegance. Her pure, classical beauty has been the perfect match to Villa Gamberaia, the nature of its gardens and the True Thinline Nature she was wearing when filming.
She officially opened the celebrations with CEO Matthias Breschan, greeting the participants from an open room, placed inside the villa, where all the 2018 novelties and some vintage pieces, were collected.
What to expect more from Rado?
Rado has, with the organization of this event and this new and exhilarating collaboration with Grandi Giardini Italiani, proven once again they have a different vision, that sets them apart from the competition, when it comes to look for new sources of inspiration for their watch collections.
It is, from this point of view, a brand that goes as twice fast as the others, because it is able to foresee and drive market trends as no one else does in the industry, as it did at the very beginning of its journey in watchmaking when it released the first steel case crafted in Hard Metal, a milestone that makes it a very unique brand, with a market leadership in innovation it strives to preserve every single day.
(Photo credit: Horbiter®)
Gaetano C @Horbiter®
