Last night, the dreamy doors of L’Eden by Perrier-Jouët opened at Casa Faena in Miami Beach. This week, the immersive experience totally transforms the space into a world of wonder, reinterpreting nature to a variety of forums, experiences, and events alike.
The lavish setting is designed to stimulate the senses, capturing the effervescence of Perrier-Jouët champagne. The champagne house tapped art director Simon Hammerstien, owner and founder of The Box, to dream up a whimsical setting that ignites visitor’s feeling of touch, taste, smell, and sight, with a sensory playground ripe for unforgettable happenings, performances, and escapades.
Over 300 people gathered to take part in an enchanted evening, including Katie Holmes, Lady Victoria Hervey, Sasha Lane and a special appearance from Sarah Jessica Parker, reciting a W. H. Auden poem and a toast to L’Eden by Perrier-Jouët.
The purveyor of bubbly was also celebrating the debut of a new collaboration with designer Andrew Kudless. The groundbreaking artist explored the inspiration of nature and Art Nouveau, alongside the artistic possibilities of today’s newest technology through four new works.
In year’s past, the champagne house has presented innovative installations by Mischer’traxler and Ritsue Mishima at the annual fair. Perrier-Jouët, which traces its links supporting the arts back to 1902 when the brand commissioned Art Nouveau figure Emile Galle to design its emblem, has also commissioned and maintained relationships with artists like Daniel Arsham, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, and Miguel Chevalier.
Kudless’ San Francisco studio Matsys, which opened in 2004, investigates the intersections between fields like engineering, architecture, and biology. For this project, he studied the architecture and painting of Art Nouveau, and found himself fascinated by the image of the strand. “With its curving lines, the strand motif evokes nature and movement over time. I wanted to look at four of champagne’s emblematic materials— wood, chalk, glass and grapes—and see how I could create strands out of each one.”
At Design Miami/ he’s taking visitors on a journey that illuminates the natural aspects of wine-making, beginning with an immersive installation entitled, Strand Garden” made of three 8-foot column screens that represent tree trunks encircled by vines made from tubes of oak wood and paper micro-veneer. Within Kudless’ artificial secret garden are benches, their tops of oak like the kind found in wine presses, and legs of concrete which resemble the chalk beneath the Champagne region. He designed, as well, a glowing table made of 3D printed clear bio-plastic made from layered, seemingly woven loops. He also employed 3D printing to create an ice bucket, The Perrier-Jouët Marc Metamorphosis, where he mimicked the undulation of drying grape skins.
