The Dutch couturier brings her language of nature, science and movement to Maison Perrier-Jouët for a collection spanning sculpture, collectible champagne and a specially created Belle Époque cuvée.
Fashion designer Iris van Herpen has spent much of her career translating forces that cannot easily be seen into extraordinary physical forms. For her latest collaboration with Maison Perrier-Jouët, she went beneath the surface — literally.
The Dutch couturier traveled into Perrier-Jouët’s vineyards in Ambonnay and Cramant, where she studied and recorded the subtle rhythms and vibrations of the natural environment. Using cymatics, a process that makes sound and vibration visible through patterns, van Herpen transformed those signals into the visual language of a new series of Belle Époque creations.
The partnership grew from van Herpen being named the inaugural recipient of the Perrier-Jouët Design for Nature Award, created with Design Miami. The award gave the designer carte blanche to explore the relationship between creativity, nature and environmental thinking — territory already deeply embedded in both van Herpen’s work and the Champagne house’s Art Nouveau heritage.
Symphonic Bloom
At the center of the collaboration is Symphonic Bloom, a one-of-a-kind sculptural work surrounding a rare jeroboam of Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque 1988.
Van Herpen created the piece using silk and recycled 22-carat gold, building organic forms that appear to rise and unfold around the bottle like a couture garment caught in motion.
The sculpture was developed through conversations with Perrier-Jouët cellar master Séverine Frerson, particularly around the way champagne develops layers of flavor and texture over time. Its movement also references Belle Époque dancer Loïe Fuller and an Art Nouveau lamp by Raoul Larche held within Maison Perrier-Jouët’s collection in Épernay.
From One Artwork to Ten
Van Herpen expanded those ideas with Symphonic Life, an edition limited to only 10 numbered pieces.
Each sculptural design embraces a magnum of Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque 1999, using forms derived from the same cymatic studies of the vineyard. The recycled-gold structures appear to extend the Maison’s familiar floral imagery beyond the glass itself.
The choice of the 1999 vintage gives the collection another layer of significance: it was Perrier-Jouët’s final vintage before the beginning of the new millennium.
Couture Moves Into the Cuvée
The collaboration does not stop at the exterior of the bottle.
Van Herpen also worked with Frerson on a dedicated interpretation of Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque 2018.
Frerson created a personalized dosage for the cuvée in consultation with the designer, with the intention of emphasizing its floral character and texture. Van Herpen, meanwhile, reimagined the bottle and presentation box, extending her visual language into a version intended to reach beyond the extremely limited collector pieces.
It creates an unusual exchange between two disciplines. One designer shapes material around the body. The other shapes wine through blending, time and terroir. Texture becomes the connection between them.
Nature as Collaborator
That relationship may be the most interesting part of the project.
Van Herpen is not simply applying her aesthetic to a luxury product. The visual identity of the collaboration begins with the vineyard itself: microorganisms, sound waves, soil, vibration and biological systems become source material for design.
That approach feels particularly aligned with Perrier-Jouët, whose identity has been linked to botanical imagery and Art Nouveau since Émile Gallé created the Maison’s Japanese anemone motif in 1902.
The works were initially revealed at Tokyo Gendai in September 2026 and later presented during Perrier-Jouët’s Banquet of Nature at The Peninsula Paris on October 21.
Their next major appearance comes at Design Miami in December 2026, bringing the project back to the platform connected to the award that started the collaboration.