Page 74 - Philippine Tatler (April 2019)
P. 74
|
LIFE SPIRIT
“...when you close your eyes and
the precious cognac and a single magnum travel case
are housed in the Hennessy Paradis Imperial Trunk feel the form, you will remember
specially created by the master craftsmen of Louis
Vuitton. the taste”—Arik Levy
It did not really take Levy all of four years to design
the crystal decanter, the crystal tulip glasses, the crystal
vials, and everything crystal in the trunk. “It’s not four ergonomics, that which bridges the hand and the
years full time. Sometimes it’s very important to put machine, computing and feeling; so much so that
something aside and look at it after some time,” he when you close your eyes and feel the form, you will
shared. After thousands of e-mails, thousands of hours, remember the taste.”
and reams and reams of paper, the artist was satisfi ed. Master Blender Rinaud and Levy sat across
“When you make that drawing and it sits there, you each other at dinner, flanked by journalists and
know that this is the one that you cannot alter in any bloggers flown in by Hennessy for this memorable
way, that you cannot add anything to or subtract experience. The CEO Bernard Peillon was, however,
anything from anymore,” he described. He added at another dinner with three winegrowers from
that often, the fi nal design is not too far from the fi rst Cognac, hosted by Hennessy as well to connect with
sketch, which is always “intuitively appealing.” this part of the world, a major market for the brand.
Understandably with great pride, Levy revealed this The big party sat at one very long rectangular
product celebrating Hennessy’s passion for precision table, with varied orchids and lilies in glass and
and time-honoured art of selection at the launch crystal vases running from end to end. Outside
dinner held at the Amanyangyun Hotel, just outside the glass walls of this temporary structure, the
downtown Shanghai. winter trees glowed in different shades of amber
“Drinking is not the point; the point is experiencing,” and gold. Paradis Imperial was first served in a
he stressed, bringing in the design concept he applied. vial. Levy invited everyone to pour the golden
“It should be a fusion of craft and science because liquid from their vial to their glass. And then, the
neither one can do it alone. I call it emotional experience began.
MARK OF EXCELLENCE The Shanghai Triad: designer Arik Levy, CEO Bernard Peillon, master blender
inaud Filloux de Gironde; The Hennessy Paradis Imperial Trunk that holds all the accoutrements for an
nforgettable experience
.
philippine tatler april 2019
