If you were looking for that one talking point bottle for the home bar, Frank Gehry’s new 150th Anniversary Hennessy X.O. is it.
Architects have always been rock stars. Long before bartenders, chefs, and industrial designers became household names, architects created works that inspired generations, from ornate houses of worship to towering commercial edifices. Now cognac house Hennessy has teamed up with one of the world’s most famous, Frank Gehry, whose works include The Guggenheim Bilbao, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris to name a few, to create a striking new take on the brand’s X.O. decanter.
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Limited to just 150 pieces, the limited-edition bottle (which will be followed by a wider release, also by Gehry) marries gold and glass with the architect’s renowned unconventional style to extol the rich legacy of the Maison and its Extra Old Cognac. Each bottle is a work of art, one that transcends language and which is as much an ode to Hennessy’s past as it is a tantalising tale of the future.
Frank Gehry has created the Hennessy X.O masterpiece with the same philosophy, passion, and curiosity as he does when designing his architectural masterpieces. Drawing inspiration from the rich Hennessy X.O blend, and the vital soil, twisting vines, and the glistening Charente River that runs through the Hennessy Maison, Frank Gehry has created a true sensorial masterpiece. The bottle is enveloped in a crinkled sleeve of 24-carat gold-dipped bronze, evoking the radiant movement of water as it reflects the light. The sculptural decanter is encased by a fractured glass glorifier, which further amplifies the inspiration of water and light.
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In addition, Gehry has created a luminous and beautifully understated fusil – the device used by cellar masters to extract cognac from the barrel – made of brass and gold. The decanter, glorifier, and fusil are packaged in a protective case that is in itself a design object, imprinted with Frank Gehry’s signature and made of compressed cardboard—an homage to a series of corrugated cardboard furniture Frank Gehry designed in the 1970s.
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