Got a Bugatti?

No, we are not talking about the car. But, yes, we are talking about elegant, fun, exclusive and extraordinary Italian design. 

It started with nine lines. A designer came into the office of Casa Bugatti managing director Clemente Bugatti a few years ago, sat at the table and drew nine lines on a piece of paper.

Clemente got the drawing in his office on a Friday afternoon, he went to the engineering department in their manufacturing facilities in Brescia, Italy, where they cut a piece of wood for a prototype, and by Monday, it was sitting on his desk.

This drawing would later become a gorgeous, sleek espresso machine — the first that Casa Bugatti would produce. 

Thus was born a new business for the revered Italian house that started making cutlery and dinnerware in 1923.

Clemente, who is a fourth-generation Bugatti, grew up in this factory in Brescia, a hundred kilometers from Milan — so did his father and his grandfather. His great-grandfather founded Casa Bugatti starting as a sub-contractor manufacturing for other brands, until he decided to create his own house. 

“I’m lucky because I received good lessons from the past generations,” says Clemente during the recent launch of the brand at Rustan’s Makati. “Among those lessons are, to stay young you have to wake up early in the morning, work hard, become very tired and go to sleep early in the evening. Also to marry a good woman, family is extremely important.”

No surprise then that he immensely enjoys creating cutlery, tableware and now lighting and small kitchen appliances for families.

“My generation, we decided to diversify the business,” Clemente says. “The 11 members of the fourth generation of Bugatti are mechanical and electronic engineers. So what do we do together in the business? I am one of the oldest of the fourth generation and have remained in the houseware branch to continue the tradition.”

Which brings us to why you may never have heard of Bugatti before even if the rest of the world has.

How many ways can one design a spoon anyway, or a fork, which will always have four tines? It’s not like you can put wings on your cutlery to differentiate it from the next brand.

“This is a spoon,” says Clemente, gripping the slip-resistant stem. “It’s very hard for us to explain the brand with a piece like this, the name Bugatti is always stamped on the back, not like appliances where it is stamped on the front.”

But then he waxes sentimental about Italian design. “When you see something and it makes you fall in love, it will make your eyes bright. You see that in people. They see a product they like and their face brightens up. Sometimes you don’t understand why people like a product — but most of the time it’s not just because it’s beautiful but because they feel beautiful with the product.”

“Why is it important to have beautiful things in the kitchen, like cutlery? You use a simple instrument to take the food from your plate to your mouth, yes, but then when you’re preparing your table — you use a tablecloth, nice plates and colored cutlery, you can enrich your experience. You can play with different colors and create a fun look.”

Bugatti’s cutlery ranges from the classic silver sets to very colorful and printed ones, which are a contrast to the minimalist small appliances. “We design contemporary pieces — that’s the Bugatti aesthetic. We design it today and in 10 years’ time, it will still be contemporary. They are sleek, timeless products.”

At Rustan’s Makati and Shangri-La Tower, you will find Bugatti’s Diva espresso machine, which produces coffee with the perfect control of temperature, water pressure and extraction time; Vela, which is a line of ergonomically efficient blenders; and Volo, which is a fully accessorized toaster featuring an electronic selector that goes from defrosting to reheating, browning to “bagel function” for that perfectly brown bagel.

Clemente says Bugatti — and Italian design in general — is “performance made merged with beauty. “I really like Germans who are extremely good in quality, but the Italians make things with a heart. I am not saying we are better than they are, but when they want to make something with a heart, they come to Italy. All the successful cars of Germany are made by Italian designers, kitchen manufacturers in Germany use Italian designers as well.”

Looking at the playful new designs of the cutlery and dinnerware, the classic, sensually shaped silverware, and the new sleek appliances, you wouldn’t wonder why they troop to Brescia for great design.

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In the Philippines, Bugatti is exclusively distributed by Rustan’s Department Store, and available at Rustan’s Makati and Shangri-La Tower.