Hennessy Paradis Imperial was created by Yann Fillioux, the seventh-generation Master Blender, in 2010. In any given harvest, only 10 out of 10,000 eaux-de-vie have the potential to join this blend. The question we faced was how to make that kind of invisible, lifelong expertise visible.
We commissioned London-based artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast to build an installation inside the Founder’s Cellar at Hennessy’s historic seat in Cognac. A cage-like domed structure, glimmering with 10,000 handcrafted crystal shards, each one representing a Hennessy eau-de-vie, catches a laser beam and produces abstract optic effects. At the centre, a robot was built and trained to seek out 10 unique crystals from among the thousands: a delicate, almost choreographic performance that mirrors the Master Blender’s own process of selection.
Marshmallow Laser Feast’s creative director Ersin Han Ersin: “To imbue the robot with characteristics that echo Hennessy’s master-blending process, we had to orchestrate a complex coming together of multiple disciplines.” The precision of the machine. The precision of the man. The same gesture, eight generations apart.
