In partnership with Veuve Clicquot
At Veuve Clicquot, colour is both signature and heritage. Shining brightly on bottle labels and boxes since 1882, the Champagne maison’s distinctive yellow is a tonal representation of optimism and audacity. Now, inspired by this heritage, the latest chapter of the house’s Creative Makers project celebrates Veuve Clicquot’s La Grande Dame 2015 and the emotive power of its colour spectrum, courtesy of ceramicist Paola Paronetto.
La Grande Dame is the maison’s prestige cuvée, named in honour of founder Madame Clicquot – known as ‘la grande dame de la Champagne’ – who created the first vintage Champagne back in 1810. Today, La Grande Dame is a showcase of Veuve Clicquot’s winemaking excellence. Each new cuvée comes with a sense of hope and optimism, celebrating the continuation of the maison’s traditions and passion.
Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2015
To honour Veuve Clicquot’s La Grande Dame 2015 cuvée, released in 2022, ceramicist Paola Paronetto – who shares with Madame Clicquot an intuitive talent and a love for colour – created six gift boxes, each painted in a different hue from the artist’s unique personal palette. Imbued with emotion, optimism and commitment, the whole is a harmonious symphony of colour. ‘Through my works, I am always looking for a balance between joy and creativity,’ says Paronetto.
For 2023, continuing its vision of collaboration, the maison tasked six Creative Makers to further explore the relationship between colour and feeling via a simple question: ‘What is the colour of your emotion?’
In response, each creative chose a hue from Paronetto’s gift box series, and created a set of images or a short film to express their colour-choice journey.
Veuve Clicquot’s Creative Makers and the colour of their emotion
Pia Riverola: ‘dark blue’
‘I want to paint the world in dark blue, the colour of serenity to me,’ says photographer Pia Riverola in response to Veuve Clicquot’s prompt. Riverola spent her formative years living in Mexico and now divides her time between Los Angeles and Mexico City. With a profound appreciation for detail and a remarkable command of colour, she weaves captivating visual stories that span the realms of fashion, still life, landscapes, and architectural photography.
Simon Schmidt: ‘silver’
‘Veuve Clicquot has always represented something special to me, something that celebrates extraordinary occasions. To create a story around something silver, and therefore sparkling, feels like a natural stage to appreciate the good times in life,’ says Germany-born and London-based photographer, art director and social media consultant Simon Schmidt. He crafts stories that explore the concept of movement, drawing on his background as a former dancer. ‘If I imagine a world painted in silver, I [visualise] a world of reflection. Silver is a colour that resembles something echoing and grounding to me. [It] reflects real love to oneself and to one another.’
Candela Pelizza: ‘teal’
Teal is ‘the colour of vibrant vision to me’, says Argentinian model and influencer Candela, who was inspired by Madame Clicquot and the idea of crafting your own world. Candela has travelled the world, working for brands from Armani to Versace, and collaborated with photographers such as Bruce Weber and Deborah Turbeville. Her latest project focuses on content creation and organisation at the Latin American Fashion Awards.
Jimmy Marble: ‘mint’
‘I want to paint the world mint – the colour of abundance for all!’ enthuses Los Angeles-based photographer, director, and muralist Jimmy Marble of the shade that for him, fuels creativity. ‘Mint brings to mind the ocean at dawn. It reminds me of cool beginnings and fresh ideas.’ Characterised by their use of colour, irreverent aesthetic, modern surrealism and pop, his photographs have appeared in Vogue, Time and The New York Times, with short films featuring on Nowness, Vimeo Staff Picks and The Tribeca Film Festival. His photo monograph Dream Baby Dream is published by Chronicle Books.
Lavinia Cernan: ‘blue’
For travel, fashion and lifestyle photographer Lavinia Cernau, blue is ‘the colour of dreams’, and one that inspires her to be bold. Blues skies ‘signal that everything is possible’, she says. Cernau’s work has an emphasis on mundane moments suspended in time, bathed in a unique golden, cinematic light. Creating a visual perspective that brings together colour, light and narrative for a sense of lived-in, authentic scenes, Cernan is a regular contributor to global travel media platforms. Her goal is to have her first book published.
Andoni Beristain: ‘lavender’
‘The colour lavender conveys peace, tranquillity, serenity, and above all, a great sense of calm to me,’ says Basque-born photographer, art director and graphic designer Andoni Beristain. ‘It also represents sophistication and good taste for me.’ Based in San Sebastian, Beristain is fascinated by shapes and colours. Creating images that are arresting, unsettling, stark and bizarre, he’s worked for brands such as Kenzo, Louis Vuitton, Braun and Adobe. His photographs – both grand-scale outdoor projects and carefully curated still-life studio work – have been featured in international magazines and exhibitions. Topics might be dark, but his outlook on life is colourful, bold and optimistic.
