Best Growth: Andrea Mancuso

Milan-based Italian designer Andrea Mancuso collaborates with Perrier-Jouët on a new, playful champagne-tasting experience that reinvents nature

- Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle

At the collectible design fair Design Miami last December, visitors couldn’t miss the elaborate Perrier-Jouët booth. Rather than a space composed of white walls dotted with pieces of innovative furniture by young and blue-chip artists and designers, the champagne house proposed an immersive installation taking on the shape of its legendary underground cellars but infused with the colors and light of its vineyards. Conceived by Mr. Andrea Mancuso and manufactured by Italian ceramicists Alessio Sarri and Nuevoforme, 11,000 round ceramic pieces were mounted on the undulating walls to resemble stacked bottles of wine maturing in the cellars, with the palette of oranges, greens, and browns referencing grapevines during harvest. The alluring backdrop served to highlight the true masterpieces showcased in six alcoves and on the central bar: the Metamorphosis collection, designed by Mr. Mancuso, of six champagne glasses and champagne bowls, which blend traditional craftsmanship and advanced technology. The pieces examine the metamorphoses of nature, Perrier-Jouët’s art nouveau heritage, and the way in which the house converts chardonnay grapes into elegant, floral champagnes through knowledge learned over the past two centuries, since its founding in 1811 by Pierre-Nicolas Perrier and Rose-Adélaïde Jouët.

The six glasses with intricate vegetal designs in muted shades reflect the flavor profiles and personalities of six distinct Perrier-Jouët cuvées (for example, Blanc de Blancs is vivacious), following Mr. Mancuso’s long talks and tastings with the house’s Cellar Master, Hervé Deschamps, in Épernay. While the conventional upper bowl of a champagne glass remains, the stems adopt surreal forms as if overrun by plant life, encouraging users to embark on a new artistic champagne-drinking ritual. There are glass bases in the guise of a curved plant stem with two green leaves, climbing roots and ribbon