Art and design play starring roles in Ruinart’s stunning new maison in France’s Champagne region.

The stunning new home for Ruinart in Reims, France

When a renowned architect keeps repeating a word, I notice. For Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto (@sou_fujimoto), the mastermind behind Ruinart’s (ruinart.com) recently opened maison, the word is light.

He mentions it several times during a recent press conference with journalists to mark the opening of the brand’s new home. The new building resembles a luminous starship; its curved rooftop sits atop glass walls facing a courtyard garden and the brand’s historic buildings.

Pascale Marthine Tayou’s sculpture “Cerf Contrôle” is part of 19 new installations

After the press conference, I ask Fujimoto how much time he spent thinking about light and harnessing radiance. “It was everything,” he tells me. “I thought about it every day. I wanted visitors to feel half in a Champagne bubble or mist. The light is softly translucent, so inside the maison is bright, and you can see into it from the garden where the building and sky merge into one.”

Interior designer Gwenaël Nicolas (@gwenaelnicolas) and landscape artist Christophe Gautrand (@christophegautrand) joined forces with Fujimoto to revitalize the 300-year-old Champagne house, the world’s oldest. Visitors can explore the Bar by Ruinart, a boutique and a hidden cellar within the pavilion. Outdoors, unwind on the Bar’s terrace, wander through the historic buildings, descend into the iconic cellars or admire new art installations curated by Fabien Vallérian (@fabienvallerian), Ruinart’s director of arts and culture.

architect Sou Fujimoto

As I stroll the gardens for the opening, several artists, including Pascale Marthine Tayou, are on hand to discuss their work. He tells me the idea behind his massive bronze and colored glass sculpture (“Cerf Contrôle”), which looks like a tree with multicolored grapes, came to him in a dream. “When I woke up, I knew what I wanted to do,” he says. Epiphanies are part of the fun where new Champagne dreams come true.

the new pavilion’s boutique.