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Hennessy honours Year of the Snake
Maison Hennessy has collaborated with fashion designer Shuting Qiu to create a trio of limited edition Cognac bottles for Chinese New Year 2025.
Hennessy and Qiu’s collection is called ‘Reimagination’ and marks the Year of the Snake. The limited edition designs have been applied to Hennessy’s VSOP, XO and Paradis bottles.
Qiu, who hails from Hangzhou in China and is now based in Shanghai, took inspiration from her cultural heritage and travels for the three designs.
Speaking to The Spirits Business, she explained the collaboration first came about in March/April 2023.
“I thought it was a very interesting collaboration as I had never worked with a Cognac brand. It is a very different industry from fashion,” Qiu explained. A visit to Maison Hennessy in Cognac, France, sparked her imagination.
“I learned about the history of the Hennessy brand; how they make the Cognac, the history, everything, and I was really touched by this part,” she explained. “I also saw a lot of the archive pieces, archive bottles from the past, and really got to experience the history of the brand.”
Qiu started forming her designs via sketches. The VSOP edition resulted in red floral motifs alongside Hawaiin-inspired elements. The bottle features a mix of plaid an abstract snake scale silhouettes to symbolise renewal and legacy. The bottle comes in a lined bag with a mix of floral and leaf motifs, described as an ‘artistic celebration of colour’.
The XO bottling combines shades of red, gold and blue, in addition to lozenge shapes inspired by traditional Chinese motifs, and a gold cork. The embossed snake that glides across the print represents transformation and renewal.
Thirdly, the limited edition Paradis is packaged in vibrant red to honour the Year of the Snake. The snake decoration is more ‘abstract and poetic’. The bottle includes a leather collar with a motif to highlight the start of spring, inspired by the rebirth of the snake shedding its skin.
“For me, the snake year is about new reimagination,” Qiu said. “For us in China, it means to restart something. You put some things in the past. But there’s also the part of inspiration.
“You can see the main colours are red and gold, which relates to Chinese New Year, but also to the colour of Hennessy. And for me, actually, I don’t use red that often, so it was a challenge to play around with.
“The VSOP is more like a playful vibe, it’s more of a young vibe. The design I did is busier. In fashion, I always use sequins and beads, and for me, this category can represent this kind of texture.
“With XO, we put a combination of red and gold, but also some blue to make it a bit more mysterious. I think it’s more poetic.
“And for Paradis, I think this is also quite poetic and with a more luxury vibe.”
Translating the language of fashion
Qiu said she endeavoured to translate the language of fashion onto the Hennessy bottles. A challenge, she noted, was that the structure of the bottles was already decided – whereas in fashion, she has more flexibility to play with shapes and silhouettes to suit her designs. However, she relished the challenge, she said.
“In the beginning, doing the research and the brainstorming part was probably the most interesting part of this journey,” Qiu said. “You have a lot of information, and you want to put it in this collaboration, in this packaging, and then you have to reduce all the elements to create one design to suit each liquid. From the beginning to the end, I really enjoyed it, and I learned a lot.”
The Chinese New Year limited edition bottles will retail for £65 (US$84) for the VSOP, £200 (US$258) for the Hennessy XO, and £1,345 (US$1,733) for the Hennessy Paradis. They will be available exclusively from the Hennessy Boutique in Harrods, London, from today (11 November).
Laurent Boillot, CEO of Hennessy, said: “Hennessy has a long-lasting connection with Chinese culture, grounded in 164 years of shared history, also made of rich artistical collaboration.
“And it is a great pleasure to welcome Shuting Qiu to embody the spirit with which we usher Chinese New Year festivities.
“Her designs epitomise a harmonious fusion of tradition and contemporary flair, offering with elegance a fitting homage to our common cultural heritage.”
Last month, Hennessy partnered with artist Jean-Michel Othoniel to create two limited edition bottles, including a €35,000 (US$37,328) Hennessy XO.
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