In partnership with Perrier-Jouët, the visionary studio is creating a project dedicated to biodiversity in the Champagne region.
In the ongoing collaboration between Maison Perrier-Jouët and today’s talents of art and design, this year
the House will reveal an ambitious project adding a new dimension to its environmental commitment.
In a grand reinterpretation of Art Nouveau’s veneration of nature, the renowned design studio of
Formafantasma is with the House to develop the designers’ vision of an interactive work of architecture for both humans and wildlife. The project will be revealed this fall, as will Formafantasma’s edition of Perrier-Jouët’s Banquet of Nature, where champagne and gastronomy meet nature and design.
Established in 1811 by Pierre-Nicolas Perrier and Rose-Adélaïde Jouët, Maison Perrier-Jouët was born
of the couple’s love of art and nature, alongside their unique vision for champagne. Both Pierre-Nicolas
and his son Charles were botanists and horticulturalists, a passion which inspired their progressive ideas on naturally harmonious viticulture and vineyard management. Two generations on, the botanist and seminal Art Nouveau artist Emile Gallé decorated a Perrier-Jouët magnum with sinuous Japanese white anemones, evoking the floral style of the House’s champagnes and symbolizing the enduring inspiration from nature, in a design that’s become the emblem of Maison Perrier-Jouët.
Drawing on its heritage, Maison Perrier-Jouët is highlighting the complexity of the living world and
the ecological interconnectedness between species. A decade ago, the House began to adapt its vineyard
practices, with the goal to minimize strains on the environment and help to enrich biodiversity in the future.
In 2021, Maison Perrier-Jouët stepped up its environmental commitment and initiated an experimental
regenerative viticulture programme which now extends to over 40% of its vineyard, improving the land’s
health and resilience by treating the ecosystem of the vineyard as a whole: the soil, its diversity of species,
and its human caretakers. Furthering the experiment with an additional 27-hectare plot, the House
is measuring the biodiversity impact of a set of innovative practices such as floral cover crops (also known
as biomass), vitiforestry, ecological corridors, and the use of bioalternative fertilizers.
This deep inspiration from nature finds expression in the collaboration with Formafantasma, whose holistic and conceptual approach to design seeks to introduce new approaches in our relationship to the planet and to society. In partnership with a team of scientists and experts, the studio has been developing
a multi-disciplinary initiative for over two years — a long-term undertaking projected towards a better
future in the form of an architectural installation for biodiversity.
In celebration of the hope of a more sustainable future for the Champagne region, Maison Perrier-Jouët
looks forward to inaugurating this significant project by Formafantasma, located in the House’s Agusons
vineyard in Ambonnay, in an exclusive preview in September 2024.
To share the message of this project, Formafantasma is also conceiving a new edition of The Banquet
of Nature by Perrier-Jouët, an experience celebrating the excellence of Perrier-Jouët cuvées paired with
gastronomy, while inviting conversation about species interconnectivity. The first Banquet of Nature
by Perrier-Jouët will be held this fall in the Champagne region and at the Design Miami art fair
in December of 2024.
About Formafantasma
Founded by Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin in 2009, Formafantasma is a research-based design
studio investigating the ecological, historical, political and social forces shaping the discipline of design
today. Championing the need for value-based advocacy and comprehensive design thinking, the aim of the designers’ practice is to facilitate a deeper understanding of both our natural and built environments, with transformative interventions through design and its material, technical, social, and discursive possibilities.
Based in Milan and Rotterdam, the studio has earned many of design’s most prestigious awards, as well
as partnerships with international brands such as Flos, Cassina, Fendi, Tacchini, Vitra Design, Prada,
and Artek, among others. Their designs are present in the collections of institutions including New York’s
MoMA and Metropolitan Museum, London’s Victoria and Albert, Paris’s Musée National d’Art Moderne,
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and Centre Pompidou, Rome’s Museo Maxxi, and the Vitra Design Museum,
among many others. In 2020 Serpentine Galleries dedicated a solo exhibition to Formafantasma.
About Maison Perrier-Jouët
For more than two centuries, Maison Perrier-Jouët has been renowned for the elegance of its champagnes, ever since its founding in 1811 by Pierre-Nicolas Perrier and Rose-Adélaïde Jouët, a free-spirited couple united by their love of art and nature. From the start, they chose the Chardonnay grape variety as the signature of the House, defining the floral style which sets Perrier-Jouët champagnes apart.
The House remains guided by its origins — inspired by nature and maintaining a close relationship
to the lands of the Champagne region, with an affinity for creativity and the arts epitomized in the Art
Nouveau period that carries on today.
About regenerative agriculture
Regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach to benefit the climate, ecosystems, and biodiversity,
as well as the wellbeing of communities. The use of agro-ecological practices aims to improve soil health
and fertility, as well as water retention capacity and water stress resistance, while restoring the ecosystems
of the fields and forests. In the long term, this model also aims to reduce GHG emissions and increase
carbon storage and biodiversity. Regenerative agriculture is people-centric, ensuring the health and vitality of farming communities, as well as their long-term economic viability. As a result, it improves the overall resilience of the terroir, for more secure yields and improved grape quality.
