POPS OF COLOUR

Artist Paola Paronetto’s vibrant collaboration with Veuve Clicquot puts a new spin on the bottle

- CRISTINA KIRAN PIOTTI

Paola Paronetto rarely welcomes visitors to her workshop in Porcia, a small town in the north-western Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, but, to mark her collaboration with Veuve Clicquot, she happily makes an exception for Wallpaper*. The project, which coincides with the champagne house’s 250th anniversary, sees the ceramic artist create the case and bottle for the newly released 2015 vintage of La Grande Dame, Veuve Clicquot’s premium cuvée, designed in homage to brand doyenne Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin (known as Madame Clicquot). The new vintage will be available in Europe this summer, following its initial launch in the US last November.

For the launch of La Grande Dame 2012 in 2020, Veuve Clicquot had called on Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who adorned the champagne bottle and case with her distinctive polka dots and flower motifs. Anyone familiar with Paronetto’s detailed artworks will recognise her interpretation just as easily. ‘La Grande Dame embodies Veuve Clicquot’s exceptional savoir-faire as well as our love of pinot noir,’ says Jean-Marc Gallot, president and CEO of Veuve Clicquot. ‘For this new vintage, we are honoured to collaborate with Paola Paronetto. A master of colour, she has created a new collection of six gift boxes in hues from her unique personal palette of more than 86 shades. Steeped in emotion, optimism and commitment, the whole is a symphony of colours that harmoniously blend together.’