“Cocoonase”, presented in collaboration between Iris van Herpen and Dom Pérignon in the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich on 9 October 2014.
With age comes wisdom, beauty and – for caterpillars – a full-body metamorphosis complete with a set of wings. For Dom Pérignon champagne, age comes with a reason for celebration, and to celebrate the release of Dom Pérignon 2004 Vintage, Dutch designer Iris van Herpen has teamed up with Chef de Cave Richard Geoffroy to create the “Cocoonase”.
Taking its name from the softened, final-stage casing that a budding butterfly prepares before emerging from its cocoon, van Herpen’s made-to-order art piece is an elaborate ribbed structure to encase and embrace the Dom Pérignon bottle as it prepares for metamorphosis. Sleek spoke with van Herpen in Munich about her latest collaboration.
Iris van Herpen and Richard Geoffroy in the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich on 9 October 2014.
For your fashion collections you often collaborate with institutions like M.I.T. or CERN – how was working with Dom Pérignon different from those collaborations?
It was not that different because when I work with institutions like M.I.T. or CERN, I collaborate with the creators from inside those institutions. And at here Dom Pérignon, I was working with Richard a lot. It’s about finding the creators within those houses. Of course there were also differences: with the institutions, I only pick a little bit from their world as I don‘t need to work with thousands of scientists; with Dom Pérignon, I really tried to dive into their whole world because I tried to make something for them. So there are differences but also similarities. Richard has a creative mind – that‘s why I tried to make it as personal as possible. To create something with someone is a very personal process. I‘m trying to understand someone‘s thinking, and someone‘s making.
When two creative minds meet, there’s also the danger of one not being fully able to express itself. Were there any restrictions or were you pretty much able to do what you wanted?
I didn’t expect to get that much freedom. Richard really tried to inspire. He’s really good at explaining how he works and how he thinks. And when I did a wine-tasting with him, he said something really beautiful. He said that it’s his job to create memories. It’s about creating an experience for someone. I think that is really beautiful because he is focusing on the inside of the body while I focus more on the outside. That is a beautiful difference in between all the similarities we have. We’re both really fascinated by nature and by pushing our boundaries. I felt very much understood. It was a pretty natural process – he didn‘t push me to do anything.
“Cocoonase”, presented in collaboration between Iris van Herpen and Dom Pérignon in the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich on 9 October 2014.
It seems that your design process is very research-based.
It depends. I believe that creating something should not only come from the brain. I really try to have intuition involved as well. I think there is a lot of knowledge inside us – in our hands, our hearts and so on. So I always try to make it a combination between my head and my hands. I think that is why my process is a bit different. I need to experiment.
How much do you actually care about the end-result of your work?
The end-result is for the people around me. The show, the garments in the store – I do it for them. But the whole process of making something – I do it for no one else but for me. The process of making is why I’m actually doing it. So I try to get that process as exciting as possible for myself. That is also why it’s such a big joy for me to work with people from outside the fashion industry: because I really feel I learn so much from them. So when I do a collaboration, or this project here with Dom, I really try to learn something from it. I try to push my skills and my knowledge with it.
Dress by Iris van Herpen, presented in the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich on 9 October 2014.
Good wines are also determined by their quality to age well. Would you say that your first collection “Fragile Futurity” from 2007 is still somehow growing or aging?
I find it always hard to look back into my old work. I think it‘s really beautiful what Dom Pérignon are doing – this looking into the product again. I do it in a way that, when I‘m looking at “Fragile Futurity” for example, there are some things like a handwork technique I used, that I’m still using today. So there are some things that I take from that time, but honestly, it feels like a different life already.
To learn more about Iris van Herpen, read our interview with her from Sleek 42 “Fun & Games”
Interview by Hans Bussert