Champagne maker Perrier-Jouët had a nifty idea: debut the 1999 vintage Fleur de Champagne, its bottle covered in the company’s familiar design of white anemones, on the first day of spring, March 21, in a space infused with flowers and greenery. “The floral element is important to us. It’s an iconic part of our visual message,” said John Bradbury, brand director for Perrier-Jouët at Pernod Ricard USA, who felt a spring debut reflected the beauty and celebration associated with champagne.
The concept, however, had at least one formidable challenge—the scarcity of spring time blooms and larger-scale trees in New York in late March. Designer David Beahm’s solution was to create a lush, forest-like environment inside the Newspace using many smaller plants, such as ferns, birch trees, and simlax. In place of Perrier-Jouët’s signature anemone blooms (deemed too small to have much of a visual impact) Beahm included white orchids, irises, and daisies. The designer primarily kept his botanic selections to plants without fragrance, out of consideration for guests’—and the new bubbly’s— “nose.” All told, the event incorporated more than 20,000 blooms.
—Meryl Rothstein
Posted 03.27.07
Photos: Colin Miller Photography (bottles, logo, cloud wall, aerialist), BizBash (entrance)
