Starck-struck!

He has designed hotels, night clubs, apartments, home and office furniture like chairs, lamps, stools, tables, appliances like teapots, cheese graters, kettles, computers, TVs and radios, and even objects like toothbrushes, telephones, vehicles, eyeglass frames, door handles and fly swatters. In Paris, a whole street block, La Rue Starck, is going up to his designs. So what has Philippe Starck NOT yet designed? A watch.

Or so we thought.

Just recently, the internationally-renowned designer announced a strategic worldwide licensing agreement under which creative powerhouse Fossil teams up with this design guru to develop a signature line of watches.

Philippe Starck is an extraordinary mix of pop star, mad inventor and romantic philosopher. Perhaps one of the most famous designers in the world, he is the creative genius who is one of the most copied at present. In the malls, you’ll see cheap copies of home wares done by Starck wannabes.

Born in Paris on January 18, 1949, Starck at an early age was already an enthusiastic draughtsman, probably inspired by his father who worked as an aircraft designer. In the Sixties, Starck attended the Ecole Nissim de Camondo in Paris and he set up his first company in 1968 to produce inflatable objects. From 1971-1972, he was art director of the Pierre Cardin Fashion house in Paris. In the 1970s, he also fitted out the Paris night clubs La Main Bleue and Les Bains-Douches. In 1979, he founded the Starck Product company.

As an interior designer, he refurnished the private apartments in the Elysee Palace in Paris for President Francois Mitterrand of France in 1982. He also designed the luxuriously avant-garde interiors of Starck Club in Dallas, the Café Costes in Paris with its axial and theatrical staircase, and the Manin Restaurant in Tokyo, and Teatriz in Marid. In New York, he was responsible for the interior design of the Royalton Hotel, with its stylish and postmodern interiors, as well as the Paramount Hotel.

In the field of industrial design, he has created a variety of objects in the O.W.O. series, noodles for Panzani, boats for Beneteau, mineral water bottles for Glacier, kitchen appliances for Alessi, toothbrushes for Fluocaril, luggage for Vuitton, and office furniture for Vitra such as the aluminum W.W. Stool, designed for Wim Wenders, the German film director.

And now, a watch in collaboration with Fossil. Why Philippe Starck and Fossil? Ten years ago, Starck had a vision for a signature watch. Ever since, he has sought a partner willing and able to help realize his idea. In Fossil, Starck found the perfect partner.

Interviews with the designer over the past five years have shown his contempt for the label-conscious and materialistic 1980s. In its place, Starck proposed a "new" emphasis on what he has termed as "democratic high fashion": high-quality and tasteful industrial design available to everyone.

And that is exactly what Fossil offers. Fossil is a company that not only shares Starck’s passion for design, but also understands his vision for unique and innovative timepieces. Fossil further proved it had the technological know-how to develop the watch – and at a very reasonable price. After all, Fossil is a company that specializes in consumer products that highlight fashion and value.

The first time I ever saw a Starck work up close was years ago during a dinner at Felix at the Peninsula Hong Kong, when this resto-bar designed by Starck was still new, and one had to make reservations in advance. Felix was and still is a wow, and so are its restrooms, and I have become Starck-struck since then.

So was I so thrilled to attend the recent launching of Starck’s watch – where else but at Felix at the Peninsula Hong Kong! The Philippe Starck design presented by Fossil came in an eight-piece collection of digital watches with plastic cases and buckles on a variety of colored rubber straps.

True to a postmodernist spirit, Starck gives his products humanlike qualities, as if making them more familiar to the consumer. Most of all his furniture have quirky names like Mister Bliss, Boom Rang, Miss Sisi table and wall lamp, Jim Nature portable TV, and the Moa Moa bakelite radio. Some names delightfully honor his two children: Ara (the Ara III House boat and the Ara table lamp) and Oa (the Oa table lamp).

At Felix, the chair backs are photographic images and portraits not only of Starck and his children, but also his friends, collaborators, close associates and patrons, "evoking the romance of an extended family." And now, we can wear Philippe Starck on our wrists. Even Fossil realized that the watch would be best named after the designer.

After Hong Kong’s top models showed off the many Starck watches on their wrists, Jal S. Shroff, managing director of Fossil East/Fossil Trading, presented the complete eight-piece collection to Hong Kong young celebrities Josie Ho, Nicola Cheung, Jun Kung, Denise Ho and Anthony Wong.

"It is an honor for us to partner with Philippe Starck on this project," said Kosta Kartsotis, president and CEO of Fossil. "His unique vision, style and wit are enlightening and inspirational."

More styles of the Philippe Starck watch are coming out, including timepieces with stainless steel and gold bracelets. Each style is personally designed and overseen by Philippe Starck and developed by Fossil.

After a watch, what next, Mr. Starck?