To Be Frank

To celebrate 150 years of Hennessy XO, Maison Hennessy commissioned architect Frank Gehry to design a special decanter. Gehry describes the inspiration behind his characteristically theatrical and otherworldly design

- Coco Marett

Fifty years ago, Frank Gehry visited the Delphi Archaeological Museum in Greece where, standing in front of the Charioteer of Delphi—one of the most recognisable surviving sculptures from Ancient Greece— he began to cry. The famed architect described the experience as “a really powerful notion to me that you could transmit emotion through inert materials; it meant architecture could create an emotional response—and furniture, and painting and sculpture.”

This feeling became a philosophy, one that has informed Gehry’s work, including even his most recent project, a decanter he designed for the 150th anniversary of Hennessy XO, the revered French cognac. “I wanted this collaboration to be more than a decanter but a sculpture,” says Gehry of his debut project with Hennessy, adding that “a bottle of cognac is already a work of art—one you can smell, taste, and feel.”

The exclusive, limited run of 150 decanters—each imprinted with Gehry’s signature—represents the technique, labour, and emotion of Hennessy’s storied family lineage and dedicated craftsmen.