Each year Maison Hennessy invites a guest artist to revisit the design of its Very Special cognac bottle. For 2019, Felipe Pantone decked out Hennessy Very Special with his signature kinetic shapes.
Without ever publicly revealing his face, Felipe Pantone has become world-renowned on the international contemporary art scene by letting his work speak for itself. At the intersection of vintage typography, optical art and kinetics, his visual language resonates in a collision of mesmerizing color, bold graphics and 3D illusions. Known for his forward-looking creations, Felipe Pantone at the same time explores an appreciation of history.
“My work is informed by the past, but it’s totally contemporary. I like to transcend time through an unexpected experience that you can only have through art. I’m always trying to jump on the next wave, to innovate,” says Felipe Pantone. This vision was the starting point for the two original works that the artist created for Hennessy after exploring the Maison’s archives in Cognac and meeting Hennessy Master Blender Renaud Fillioux de Gironde.
Following the idea that modernity is defined by an “Ultradynamic” creative approach, the artist set out to create unexpected experiences in the world of cognac. Bringing them together in the concept “Remixing the Present”, he revisited the design of the Very Special bottle based on his original artwork “W-3 Dimensional Three Stars”, inspired by Hennessy’s past.
Felipe Pantone incorporated his own signature shapes with the three-star design used in the past by Maurice Hennessy and an archival quilted pattern, punched up with an iridescent lightning bolt that symbolizes the speed of the digital era as well as Hennessy’s ability to capture future-facing momentum.
“As an artist, I want to enhance the Hennessy Very Special experience with something that has never existed before. I wanted to show how Hennessy lives intensely in the present. It may be a heritage brand but it’s bursting with dynamism.” Felipe Pantone
