Iconic symbols of Moët & Chandon history become bejeweled art objects of exquisite savor-faire. [read the full champagne story]
Estimated reading time: 22 minutes
Paris, 26 April 2024
To honor its rich heritage serving celebrations for over 281 years, Moët & Chandon and the contemporary embroidery artisans of Atelier Baqué Molinié have conceived eleven exquisitely embellished symbolic objects, on display in Memories of Tomorrow: A Moët & Chandon Exhibition held in Epernay from May 18th, 2024.
‘Over the centuries, Moët & Chandon has forged diverse and long-lasting connections to excellence, world culture and entertainment, royal courts and, most importantly, nature and its bountiful grape harvest.’
Eleven figurative representations recall these ties, and are transformed into jewel-like art objects, emblematic “totems” for Moët & Chandon; final renderings of dynamism and light express a layered and living history.
Paris-based Atelier Baqué Molinié lend their skilled craftsmanship, innovative approach, and a touch of sparkling visual poetry to the objects. Working with many of France’s storied Haute Couture fashion Houses as special-project embroiderers, their involvement reinforces Moët & Chandon’s long-standing relationship with fashion and the unique French tradition of Haute Couture.
Atelier Baqué Molinié have invested hours of planning and, above all, elaborate hand embroidery and beading into each object. Their creation required eight months of work; an additional atelier was created exclusively for this specific and innovative project. Their workmanship is rooted in an essential savoir-faire, or know-how, so equally important in crafting champagne. Excellent raw materials, an expert human hand, and sustained effort over time can yield marvelous things.
The trajectory of Memories of Tomorrow: A Moët & Chandon Exhibition invites visitors to experience history thematically. The exhibition highlights the arenas where Moët & Chandon brings the celebration: entertainment, world culture, royal courts and, at last, nature, finishing in an extravagantly sized effervescent bubble.
Preliminary sketches made by Atelier Baqué Molinié will also be shown, inviting visitors into the creative process at large.
The Moët & Chandon “totems” are revealed to visitors as follows, each with a story to tell:
THE HORSE
Moët & Chandon’s engagement with horsemanship is profound, from the horse’s important laboring on the vineyard, to ownership of award-winning thoroughbreds—such as “Miss Moët” rode by recording-breaking equestrian Nelson Pessoa;
Moët & Chandon is also current partner to racing events, including Royal Ascot in the UK. From the early days of its founding, Claude Moët’s ledger-journal bears witness to the horse’s importance to the House, identifying horse purchases, whether intended for travel or various fieldwork.
Atelier Baqué Molinié uphold this history with a figure that evokes both a chess game piece and a sculpted bust, embroidered in baroque motifs suggesting controlled vegetation—an ode to the forces of nature refined by the hands of man, with the help of the noble horse.
THE STAR
While some say the emblematic star of Moët & Chandon was inspired by the passage of the great comet of 1811, called Napoleon’s Comet, the star predates this event with records showing it on the labels of the House as early as 1807, then in tandem with the crown in 1865, and subsequently ever since.
Atelier Baqué Molinié brings the Moët & Chandon star into large relief embellishing several, each with a different motif inside: grapes, the bottle, ribbon, crown and, of course, a star within a star. The shape also suggests the stars along The Hollywood Walk of Fame and the House’s enduring connection to the cinematic arts, its magic-making glamour and delight. Moët & Chandon first appeared on film in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Champagne” (1928), with many other silver-screen cameos to follow.
THE FIRST SHIPMENT TO THE U.S.A.
For over 230 years, the relationship between Moët & Chandon and the United States has flourished; records show its first shipment from France to the “New World” in 1792. The Maison maintains a prominent place there today, notably with Moët Impérial and Nectar Impérial, a fruity wine with generous dosage. Almost one hundred years after the arrival of Moët & Chandon, France gifted the Statue of Liberty to the United States to pay tribute to the countries’ common ideals of modernity and freedom. Moët & Chandon has helped celebrate “Lady Liberty”—from a special cuvée honoring the 1976 American Bicentennial, to illuminating the statue in 2006 for her 120th anniversary.
Atelier Baqué Molinié celebrate this enduring relationship by focusing on her torch: the flame features recycled and second-hand materials to symbolize the power of creative reinvention for environmental conservation—a light for new ways ahead.
THE WEATHER
Bottles of champagne may travel the world yet there will only be one place—Champagne, France—with its unique climate watched incredibly closely, eyes to the sky, as each year’s weather unfolds. In 1990, Moët & Chandon left home conditions for a world tour as a spectacular cork-shaped hot air balloon, named Spirit of 1743, alighting in over 21 countries and carrying the Moët & Chandon name across the skies.
Inspired by this voyage, and as tribute to the ideal climatic conditions for grape-growing at home—Atelier Baqué Molinié recreate a classic cupola like an inverted version of a half-globe, painted with rich dimensions of blue sky in which clouds take the shape of each emblematic object in the exhibition, including vines and bunches of grapes, for a celestial view both of home and away.
THE FAN
Known for her sparkling wit and entertaining prowess, Madame de Pompadour introduced Moët & Chandon to the Court of Versailles in 1750, at a time when fashionable hand fans were de rigueur in society. “Champagne is the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking it,” Madame de Pompadour once famously quipped.
As a versatile expression of style, the fan with Atelier Baqué Molinié becomes a hymn to nature’s elements. They create the fan’s blades as rows of elaborately worked vines billowing in the wind, expanding as if in perspective, and flourishing into grapes, leaves and even stars—against the backdrop of the blue sky made of lightly beaded tulle.
THE CROWN
Securing the ribbon around a Moët & Chandon bottle neck is a seal with a crown—representing the many royal courts served by the Maison since the 1750s, including the Imperial Court of France, the Royal Court of Spain, and the Royal Court of England.
To highlight the crown as a symbol of protection and benevolence, Atelier Baqué Molinié recreates this icon of European history with a half-globe inside, covered in green velvet and lined with beads to plot an aerial view of the Champagne region and its vineyards. Glass pearls along the arches of the crown symbolize bubbles rising toward a guiding, solar star.
THE HAT OF NAPOLEON
Moët & Chandon’s archives include one of Napoléon Bonaparte’s iconic bicorne hats, honoring the excellent relations that Jean-Remy Moët enjoyed with the Emperor in the early 1800s, and honoring the legendary leader behind the champagne Moët Impérial name.
Atelier Baqué Molinié interpret the hat’s form, rather, as a hill and as a canvas for an embellished topographic map representing the Epernay region—precisely the landscape Napoléon gazed upon while stopping by on his way East to visit his friend, and share of glass of champagne, at the start of one of his many history-making expeditions.
THE TIME
A ‘Grand Vintage’ is a special designation given to a champagne that is produced from the grapes of a single exceptional year, and which has the distinction of undergoing a much longer aging period than non-vintage cuvées. At Moët & Chandon, this extended maturation allows the champagne to develop greater aromatic complexity and a richer structure.
To represent this precious and long period of maturation in the cellar, Atelier Baqué Molinié evoke the growth rings of the great centennial oaks in the forest of Château de Saran that appear year after year. Faceted like a golden liquid surface to suggest champagne, it also bears likeness to a vinyl record where time turns in music, recalling the generations of glittering festivities celebrated with Moët & Chandon.
THE THREE GRAPES
Three grape varieties – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier – are blended to achieve a perfect balance in Moët Impérial year after year, respecting an ideal combination between sugar and acidity, richness and subtlety of taste, effervescence and foaming capacity.
Paying homage to these three characters in nature’s bounty, Atelier Baqué Molinié crafts a triptych of grape bunches made of glass beads worked like jewels and shaped in dynamic arches to capture of the fullness of these fruits in plenty, eventually blended in a triple alliance greater than the sum of its parts.
THE JEROBOAM
A Jeroboam contains three liters of champagne, equivalent to four standard 75cl bottles. This large format preserves the champagne’s finer qualities longer, due to a smaller ratio of oxygen present. Its impressive size is also a symbol of sharing and celebration, notably with a champagne suited for all seasons and circumstances like Moët Impérial with its instantly accessible structure, roundness, and freshness.
Atelier Baqué Molinié illustrate the moment when the bottle is opened after having rested in the cellars, when the cork pops under pressure just before tasting, transcribing this delicious tension visually. Foam escapes in a spiraled flight around the bottle, a weave of pearls, finishing off Moët Impérial’s most embellished dress.
THE CHAMPAGNE BUBBLE
Effervescence is the hallmark of champagne. It is at once an expression of its quality as well as its enduring association with festivity and a dynamic spirit of celebration.
Atelier Baqué Molinié forge an XXL champagne bubble that throws faceted light like a nocturnal star. Depth contrasts sparkle: upon dark velvet adorned with gold and silver sequins, bejeweled three-dimensional dots reference champagne bubbles resulting in a spectacular dance of light.
The ensemble of eleven “totem” objects, conceived and crafted for
Memories of Tomorrow: A Moët & Chandon Exhibition, lead viewers on an epic tour across time, lands, and iconic symbols with a sparkling finish forged by the hands of craftsmanship.
Memories of Tomorrow: A Moët & Chandon Exhibition will be held at
Moët & Chandon’s headquarters in Epernay, France, from May 18th, 2024 through the autumn. It is accessible to visitors who also reserve a Moët & Chandon cellar visit and, from 18:00h, to small groups of walk-in guests who can purchase tickets exclusively on site for 35 Euros. At the end of the visit, participants are invited to savour a glass of Moët Impérial to heighten and finish this immersive tour.
ABOUT BAQUÉ MOLINIÉ
Atelier Baqué Molinié was born of a meeting between Laetitia Baqué and Victor Molinié who, since 2011, have developed a joint artistic project in innovative textile research and creative application. Both graduates of the École Supérieure d’Arts Appliqués Duperré, together they travelled extensively throughout embroidery workshops in France and India. These experiences proved rich in creative and technical discoveries and have allowed them to orchestrate numerous projects with their own creative imprint, from the Baqué Molinié workshop located within the artisanal enclave Villa du Lavoir in Paris. By enriching their technical knowledge, exploring the complementarity of their respective skills, and harmonizing their gestures, they join design and craft, form and material—ever ready to engage in dialogue with the specificity of a place or project whether through objects, Haute Couture fashion, decor design, or elaborated scenography.
ABOUT MOËT & CHANDON
Moët & Chandon was founded in 1743 by Claude Moët and elevated to international renown by his descendant, Jean-Remy Moët, who dreamt of “sharing the effervescence of Champagne with the world.” From royal court to red carpet, Studio 54 to Grand Slams, Moët & Chandon has been bringing people together around thrilling, extraordinary moments. With the largest, most diverse vineyards in the region, the House offers a universal & versatile portfolio of champagnes for every occasion and palate. Easy to love, each creation in white and rosé – from the iconic Moët Impérial to the refined Grand Vintage Collection, from the refreshing Moët Ice Impérial to the gentle Nectar Impérial, and the multilayered Collection Impériale, the newest expression of the House’s art of Haute Oenologie – dazzles and delights with a broad spectrum of flavors and aromas to capture the astonishing breadth of its terroir. Through Natura Nostra, Moët & Chandon’s long-term sustainability program, the House works to protect biodiversity in the region and, since 2009, Moët & Chandon also supports philanthropic initiatives through Toast for a Cause. For nearly three centuries, Moët & Chandon has been the champagne of choice to mark both significant events in history and personal celebrations, enhancing each toast with the spark of effervescence.
