Formafantasma Launches Trailblazing Biodiversity Project in Collaboration with Perrier-Jouët

Overlooking the verdant rolling hills near Épernay, in the Champagne region of northeast France, where the air is crisp and the smell of the rich terroir lingers, a curious assortment of 74 vibrant terracotta totems have popped up amongst the lush foliage. The environmental installation, a so-called Biodiversity Island, aims to nurture a range of species indigenous to the area. The work draws direct inspiration from Maison Perrier-Jouët’s experimental regenerative program, which looks to minimize the strain on the environment that happens in the winemaking process.

Handcrafted in France using a range of beautiful pink-hued natural iron-oxide glazes, the extruded forms are arranged in a circle configuration at varying heights, creating a fence-like barrier for the plot of land inside. About half of the modules are designed with openings and cavities to serve as a habitat for insects. Birds, bats, plants, and other wildlife further activate the approximately 3,000-square-feet of landscape.

“Design is a complex discipline often misunderstood as solely focused on desirability and beauty,” says Trimarchi. Adds Farresin, “At its best, design can offer solutions to complex realities and serve as a tool to learn from and celebrate nature. Our collaboration with Perrier-Jouët marks the first opportunity we’ve had to explore our interest in the life and behavior of flora and fauna, and how design can enhance biodiversity.”

This installation is just the first part of a bigger project that has been years in the making. The designers, who are known for their research-based and multidisciplinary approach, worked with a slew of global scientists and international experts in biodiversity, and formed a special committee in France with a naturalist specializing in the management of land and ecosystems, a doctor of entomology and landscape ecology, and an expert in regenerative viticulture. “The idea is to create an artistic platform that is more than just an artwork but something that really brings together a community,” says Caroline Bianco, the Culture and Creative Director of Perrier-Jouët. “This is an experiment. Andrea and Simone were the right people for this task, thanks to their ability to express complex ideas and concepts in a beautiful way, spotlighting the relation between things.”

With a proliferation of global luxury brand collaborating with artists, this project sets itself apart for its commitment to the future and to the environment. “It is about giving the space for learning. When you collaborate with others as we have, it’s more about allowing yourself to see in a different way and that leads to really unexpected outcomes,” says Trimarchi.

“This is not just about taking an artist’s work, putting a spotlight on it, and somehow the brand appropriating the values of the artist,” says Farresin. “The beauty of working with others in a team is that it opens the question a bit larger and sometimes you find the solution in this intersection between the different practices. It is about asking, what can we do together?”

Complementing the ecological installation in the vineyard, the designers have also curated the first edition of the “Banquet of Nature” a new sensory and culinary experience that invites creative talents to interpret the house’s pillars: art, nature, and champagne. At the opening launch weekend during the September harvest, guests were treated to a lunch orchestrated by Michelin-star chef Pierre Gaignaire and rising star chef Manon Fleury.

Over an incredible seven-course meal—each serving inspired by nature, the environment, and art—there were conversations between design expert Libby Sellers with Perrier-Jouët cellar master Severine Frerson, Formafantasma, and the Italian eco-acoustic composer David Monacchi, who created a unique soundscape, Oecanthus. The composition was created from onsite recordings carried out over the summer in Perrier-Jouët’s vineyards. The two sound sculptures designed by Formafantasma and the composition created by Monacchi will be presented during the major international art fairs with the “Banquet of Nature” experience, the next of which is Design Miami in December.

To further commemorate the launch of Cohabitare, Perrier-Jouët launched two limited editions for the Belle Epoque 2016 cuvée and the Blancs de Blanc in a special design by Formafantasma.

“Given the complexity of the world today, all design studios should be thinking about how to address ecological, political, and sociological issues,” says Sellers. “But Formafantasma are one of the very few that manage to achieve or reach a real positive change across the companies and through the projects with which they work. The fact that they continue to do so with such grace, elegance, and rigor is testimony to their passionate belief that design has the power to change not only our lives, but the lives every species in which we encounter.”