words by FELICITY CARTER
The Dutch couturier applies her sculptural approach to a series of rare champagnes and a new Belle Époque cuvée.
Dutch couturier Iris van Herpen has collaborated with Perrier-Jouët on a series of nature-inspired creations, applying her approach to materiality and free-flowing forms to the Champagne house’s Belle Époque cuvées.
The collaboration began at Design Miami last year, where van Herpen became the inaugural recipient of Perrier-Jouët’s Design for Nature Award, and over the past year, she's visited the house in Épernay and worked with cellar master Séverine Frerson on the project.
Among the creations is Symphonic Bloom, a one-off jeroboam of Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque 1988. Crafted in silk and recycled 22-carat gold, the sculptural design incorporates organic motifs developed through van Herpen’s studies of the Champagne house’s terroir using cymatics, the study of patterns created by sound vibrations.
Its upward movement also references an Art Nouveau lamp by French sculptor Raoul Larche depicting the dancer Loïe Fuller, forming part of Perrier-Jouët’s Art Nouveau collection at Maison Belle Époque in Épernay.
A second design, Symphonic Life, takes its inspiration from Symphonic Bloom and is limited to 10 magnums of Belle Époque 1999, each finished with a design in recycled 22kt gold. Van Herpen and Frerson have also co-created a dedicated Belle Époque 2018 cuvée; its bottle and gift box explore textures found in nature and their relationship with emotion, perception and the sensory experience.
To top it off, a final sculptural work by van Herpen, created as part of her Design for Nature Award, will be presented at Design Miami this December.
