When lauded Italian ceramist Paola Paronetto was asked to create six special gift boxes for Veuve Clicquot’s signature cuvée, La Grande Dame 2015, she had a clear vision to convey feelings and ideas using her distinctive ‘paper clay’ material (a combination of clay and paper pulp) and shades from her personal palette.
The resulting packaging reflects her light, dynamic and peaceful aesthetic, plus she also created a limited-release sculptural work called Giganti Bottiglie, which takes the form of three giant standing bottles that can be ordered in customers’ choice of hues. Here she tells us more about this playful project.
In conversation with Paola Paronetto
I was surprised but happy to be contacted by Veuve Clicquot to champion Madame Clicquot with this beautiful collaboration, reinventing the packaging for their prestige cuvée, La Grande Dame 2015. It’s been an honour to reflect the spirit of Clicquot in my work and colours, and keep on telling the story of this inspiring Champagne maison.
The connections I saw and felt with Madame Clicquot were so numerous that I truly felt compelled to create something in honour of the ideals and visions of the maison.
“With all my work, nature is always my source of inspiration, my starting point.”
For this reason, I wanted the boxes to respect nature to the fullest and although [that came] with many challenges, we were able to create boxes that are 100% sustainable, a fact that we are very proud of. The inspiration for the texture of the boxes came from my Cartocci collection.
I wanted them to have not just a visive [visual] aspect but also a tactile quality that involves all the senses. The colours came next, and it was important to me that there wasn’t just one colour, but instead a family of colours that harmonise together, reflecting a spirit of joy, optimism and positivity.
“I began with Veuve Clicquot’s iconic yellow, which represented the sun for me.”
From there, the blues of the sky and clouds followed, and next the greens in two different shades, and finally a touch of lilac, which for me represents femininity — in honour of Madame Clicquot and by extension all hard-working, dedicated women.
The names of the colours in my palette are self-explanatory — Sage, Cloud and Apricot, to name but a few. My colours are hand-mixed so that there are slight differences with the same tone. This makes every ceramic [piece] truly unique; from the form to the texture and colour, no two pieces are ever identical. [For this project], the process of whittling down colours and making sure they truly and thoroughly reflected our goals was quite consuming. I’d say it took more than a year from start to finish.
My sculptures are also never exactly the same. They’re [also] made by hand and the differences or ‘imperfections’ created are welcomed and embraced. [Here], in honour of Madame Clicquot and the verticality of the prestige cuvée [bottle], I wanted something of grand proportions to really represent its exceptional qualities.
[For the rest of the year], I’ll be busy as always with various projects, on both a personal and professional level — [but] I’m a very reserved person and prefer not to talk about myself. I find that my art does the talking for me, and I think if you look closely at it, you’ll find out much more about me than I can say in words.
Photography: Joaquin Laguinge, Martin Bruno, and Romain Laprade.
