Renowned Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen has embarked on a deeply poetic collaboration with historic champagne house Maison Perrier-Jouët, merging her signature avant-garde aesthetic with the natural organic rhythms of the French countryside. For this unique creative union, van Herpen turned her focus directly to the legendary vineyards of Champagne, capturing ambient sounds and translating them into tangible visual patterns using cymatics—a specialized scientific technique that makes sound visible by demonstrating how acoustic vibrations shape materials such as water, sand, and powder.
The resulting project, encompassing striking sculptural works, custom bottle designs, and a newly interpreted vintage cuvée, bridges the gap between scientific exploration and artistic heritage. By drawing heavily on the Art Nouveau tradition that has long defined the visual and cultural identity of Maison Perrier-Jouët, van Herpen has successfully brought her fascination with intricate natural formations into an ongoing dialogue with the champagne house’s rich history.
"The world is not only visual but vibrational—woven together by invisible forces that connect all living things," reflects van Herpen, capturing the conceptual heartbeat of an enterprise that seeks to make the imperceptible forces of nature both seen and tasted.
Art Nouveau Influences and the Genesis of ‘Symphonic Bloom’
The partnership between Maison Perrier-Jouët and Iris van Herpen officially commenced in December 2025, when the visionary designer was named the inaugural recipient of the prestigious Perrier-Jouët Design for Nature Award. Both entities share an unwavering devotion to the natural world, a shared philosophy that naturally aligns with Perrier-Jouët’s profound historical ties to the Art Nouveau movement and its embrace of flowing, organic lines.
To begin the creative process, van Herpen traveled to the champagne house’s prized vineyards located in the French villages of Ambonnay and Cramant. There, she recorded the subtle, ambient sounds of the terroir. She then utilized cymatics to explore how these acoustic waves generated geometric and organic patterns that remain entirely invisible to the naked human eye. This obsession with hidden rhythms forms the cornerstone of much of van Herpen’s broader body of work, where she routinely bridges science, technology, and haute couture to unearth biological structures that might otherwise go completely unnoticed.
These sonic and scientific studies culminated in Symphonic Bloom, a breathtaking sculptural installation designed to cradle a rare jeroboam of Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque 1988. Painstakingly crafted from fine silk and recycled 22-carat gold, the sculpture rises gracefully from the neck of the heavy glass bottle, unfurling organic, petal-like forms derived directly from van Herpen’s cymatic research.
To ensure the physical sculpture mirrored the sensory evolution of the wine, van Herpen engaged in extensive conversations with cellar master Séverine Frerson, discussing the intricate ways champagne flavors develop, mature, and open up over time. The sculpture’s dramatic upward momentum and fluid lines are also a deliberate nod to the pioneering serpentine dances and flowing costumes of early modern dancer Loïe Fuller, as well as a historic Art Nouveau lamp by designer Raoul Larche, housed within the champagne house’s celebrated collection at Maison Belle Époque in Épernay.
Symphonic Life and the Limited Edition Belle Époque 2018 Cuvée
Building upon the monumental foundations of Symphonic Bloom, van Herpen expanded the collaboration with Symphonic Life, a limited release comprising just ten individual pieces. Each work in this series features a magnum bottle of Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque 1999. Constructed once again from recycled 22-carat gold, the sculptural casings evolve from the organic motifs established in the previous designs, gracefully wrapping around the contours of the historic bottles in a continuous dance of metalwork and light.
Beyond the sculptural works, van Herpen partnered directly with cellar master Séverine Frerson to reimagine a special edition of Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque 2018, complete with a newly designed bottle aesthetic and an accompanying luxury gift box. The visual language of the packaging takes direct cues from the tactile, rich textures found across the natural and manmade worlds—specifically mimicking the interplay of metal, wood, silk, and velvet.
Working in tandem with the designer, Frerson fine-tuned the dosage of the vintage to specifically accentuate and elevate the cuvée’s signature floral notes, enhancing the mouthfeel and overall textural complexity of the champagne.
"The floral signature of Perrier-Jouët is born from a deep connection with nature and a continual search for elegance and nuance," notes Frerson, reflecting on the collaborative process. "Through our dialogue with Iris van Herpen, we explored texture as a shared language, from the tactile qualities of her work to the layered sensations that define an exceptional champagne."
The fruit of this remarkable artistic and oenological dialogue made its global debut at Tokyo Gendai in September 2026. The collection was subsequently showcased during Maison Perrier-Jouët’s exclusive Banquet of Nature event held at The Peninsula Paris on October 21st, before preparing for its final public presentation at Design Miami in December 2026.
Project Information:
- Name: Symphonic Bloom, Symphonic Life, and Dedicated Cuvée by Iris van Herpen
- Designer: Iris van Herpen (@irisvanherpen)
- Collaborator: Maison Perrier-Jouët (@perrierjouet)
- Cellar Master: Séverine Frerson
