Richard Mille goes for the bold with its RM 07-01 Coloured Ceramics capsule collection and an innovative new direction for its boutique design

Taking inspiration from the 1980s Italian art and architecture movement Memphis Design, while underpinned by the brand’s fundamental trademarks of performance, technicity and innovation, Richard Mille’s latest release brings new meaning to “endless summer”. The RM 07-01 Coloured Ceramics capsule collection comes in three seasonally derived pastel hues and employs the decorative technique of repeating individually applied lines known as guillochage.

“I find Memphis Design particularly fascinating in its diversity and freedom,” says Cécile Guenat, creative and development director at Richard Mille. “The creators’ goal at the time was to escape the strictures of Modernist aesthetics and they were pioneers in the use of all types of materials through their designs. At the heart of the design process for this collection was the idea of juxtaposing colours in materials. Then we enriched this work by weaving inside the ancient craft of guillochage. This creates a symbiosis of the ultra-modern and the traditional in watchmaking.”

In addition to playing with light and shadow in subtle ways, the decorative detailing on the RM 07-01 series brings fun and light-heartedness to what is also an exquisitely crafted and highly technical timepiece. The Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystal (TZP) ceramic – in blush pink, lavender and powder blue – used for the bezel and caseback is renowned for its lightness, strength and colour-retention properties. Grade 5 titanium is used for the bridges and baseplate of the in-house skeletonised automatic winding

CRMA2 movement, which sports a variable-inertia balance and a variable-geometry rotor that adapts the winding of the watch to the wearer’s activity.

Totally contemporary in every aspect of their approach, the RM 07-01 Coloured Ceramics share many qualities with another recent Richard Mille innovation: St. Martin, a new flagship occupying the site of a former restaurant in Singapore’s Orchard Road district. Eighteen years after the first Richard Mille store opened in Hong Kong, St. Martin offers the ultimate representation of the brand’s spirit in what promises to become the conceptual source of inspiration for future boutiques.

“Every Richard Mille event is an opportunity for wonderful encounters. As well as a chance to meet and share, each one also serves to highlight the brand’s strong convictions and commitments,” says brand and partnerships director Amanda Mille. “St. Martin was designed in perfect harmony with this philosophy conducive to fostering human relationships. This venue awakens emotions and elevates the art of hospitality so dear to Richard Mille, thanks in particular to an innovative vision.”

The concept for the new flagship began with adopting the fundamentals of a speakeasy, inviting visitors beyond the typical facade into a series of 11 interconnected spaces where Richard Mille’s parallel worlds and passions are deployed. It took the brand’s in-house architecture team three years to complete the space, designing and creating the vast majority of the furniture and decorative elements to highlight each room’s distinct personality. The setting reveals its secrets along an extremely fluid pathway that is natural and intuitive in equal measure; a fun architectural construction of volumes and lighting devised to achieve a perfect balance of style, innovation, tradition and emotion.

“The architectural organisation of St. Martin creates a feeling of astonishment at not having guessed such a space could exist behind this door,” says brand director Alexandre Mille. “Discovering it makes you wonder what the next surprise will be.”

Also see: Richard Mille: RM UP-01 gets thin