As a busy 2024 begins to come to a close, the Chinese Lunar New Year tells us that 2025 will be the year of the snake, bringing about wisdom, intuition and transformation.

No one knows that better than the storied house of Hennessy who, for the lunar new year, worked with the immensely talented, Shanghai-based fashion darling and designer Shuting Qiu on the re-imagination of its V.S.O.P, X.O and rare cask Paradis bottles, including their rare cask Paradis edition.

Qiu, an Antwerp-taught designer, has transformed the iconic bottles through her own vision of modern romanticism, which, while bold, are also delicate, quite like the cognac housed in the bottles themselves.

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Taking notes from the Paradis cognac, Qiu’s designs are a mix of amber and gold, and delight the drinker with its delicate notes of cinnamon and exotic fruits. We spoke with Qiu from her studio in Shanghai to chat through her designs and what reimagination means to her.

Shuting, your designs are celebrated for their bold blend of tradition and modernity. How did you bring that signature balance to this collaboration with Hennessy?

This collaboration is a very special and bold opportunity, a collision of classic and modern fashion. Because I think Hennessy is a luxury brand with a long history and deep background, they use traditional techniques to make quality cognac and their classic image has been remembered by the public for a long time. Whereas, SHUTING QIU is a relatively young fashion brand. In this collaboration, I used a variety of SHUTING QIU's iconic color contrast prints, hoping to add a unique vividness and vitality to the collaboration.

“Re-imagination” is such an evocative name. What does it mean to you personally, and how did you weave that concept into your designs for the Lunar New Year collection?

Re-imagining means a new challenge and a new beginning for me, because this collaboration with Hennessy is cross-industry, and I have never cooperated with cognac brands, which is a bold challenge. And the New Year is the most important festival for Chinese people, which means reunion. People who wander around will return to their hometowns on this day to reunite with their families and then do the celebration.

Therefore, in terms of design, I chose the red color that represents Chinese New Year. The Glitterous Snake is shedding its old skin, leaving behind the winter of the past, and takes on a new form of festive colors with which it enters the new year. I also drew inspiration from the spring fields of flowers and integrated the abstract and vivid snake pattern into the bottle design. These are all in the interpretation of the meaning of Re-imagining.

The snake, a symbol of renewal and transformation, plays a central role in your designs. How did you reinterpret this ancient symbol in a way that feels fresh and modern?

In the early stages of design, I have been thinking about how to integrate fashion elements with classic bottles, interpreting ancient symbols in a modern way. The shape of the snake itself is unique, and after researching many of the historical materials, I eventually found inspiration from traditional Chinese embroidery culture. I used leather and silk to represent the texture and scales of the snake's body, maximizing the fashion elements to simulate the effect of the snake wrapping around the bottle.

Your use of color in this collaboration is striking, especially the rich red tones. What inspired your choice of colors, did the different hues of the V.S.O.P, X.O and Paradis play a role into each unique design? How do they connect to the themes of renewal and heritage?

Yes, the shades of these three different cognacs really inspired my choice of colors as V.S.O.P, X.O and Paradis all have their characteristics. V.S.O.P is young and energetic, young people will like this cognac more, so when designing V.S.O.P, apart from echoing the main colors of red and gold, the overall color palette is richer, more active and full of life, with the colors being X.O wanted to show a mysterious atmosphere, bold and energetic, with rich red, gold and blue tones, and high saturation colors.

Paradis is more poetic, noble and quiet, and I used more soft pastel colors inspired by sunset and sunrise. The bottle has a leather collar and a soft-touch pattern that symbolizes the awakening of spring, inspired by the rebirth of the elegant snake as it sheds its old skin.

Chinese brocade and embroidery are key inspirations for this collection. How did you approach blending these traditional crafts to create something that feels new and unique—in a similar approach to how the Paradis blend is a union of eaux-de-vie?

Embodying the rich heritage and timeless elegance of Chinese brocade, this captivating collection celebrates art and craftsmanship by combining tradition with innovation. The texture and scales of the snake's body are reflected through the use of colorful splashes and prints, such as the ancient Chinese brocade motifs. Like Paradis, elements are drawn from a wide range of traditional cultures, which, when combined, create a harmonious and bold design.

Hennessy’s carafes are such an iconic part of the brand’s identity. How did their shape and form influence your design process?

The three kinds of bottles have different shapes. I would create bold creations based on the shape of the bottle and the unique feelings that Cognac brings to my mind.

The VSOP is detailed and uses embossing to create a similar way to how I use sequins and glitter in my textile designs. Whereas the XO is more fluid, I used a frosted texture to make a gradient bottle, with the addition of a snake-embossed design that slithers gracefully through the print. Paradis pays homage to class and elegance with a sculptural snake that is more abstract and poetic, showcasing elegance and luxury, symbolizing the quest for a new level of prosperity, with a more unified color palette. I use leather elements for the cognac bottle mouth and cap to express the ultimate luxury.

You’ve spoken about transformation as a key theme. In what ways does this collaboration reflect your own evolution as a designer?

I express the theme of transformation through snakes, because snakes molt every year, which characterizes renewal, diversity, and from the beginning. The same goes for the Shuting Qiu. I have been creating the brand for about five years. With the change of time and the market, my design style has also changed appropriately, gradually matured, and combined with life, but still bold, significant and independent, while maintaining a soft identity, which has always been my unchanged original intention.

The snake’s movements in your design are meant to evoke the Charente River in Cognac. Can you tell us more about how you connected this imagery to the narrative of the collection?

The Charande River is known as the source of "the water of life". In distant ancient times, water transportation was the main means of transportation. The existence of the Charande River has made it a prosperous commercial city and also witnessed the legend of the birth of cognac for hundreds of years. I associate Charonde with the meaning of snakes. They seem to have some things in common. The Charonde River brings fantastic and unexpected developments to cognac, and snakes and the New Year will also bring everyone a new and positive change, let go of the past and embrace a new beginning.

This is Hennessy’s first-ever collaboration with a female fashion designer. How does that resonate with you, both personally and professionally?

Firstly, thanks Hennessy for choosing me. I feel honored to be the first female designer they have cooperated with. Hennessy has given me the opportunity to express my ideas and visions to the world, to show the diversity of traditional Chinese culture and the Shuting Qiu. And I think Hennessy resonates with me.

Although Hennessy is a classic brand with a long history of more than 250 years, Hennessy's bottles are classic, which is very similar to fashion, where every brand has its classic silhouettes, unique designs and colors. However, in recent years they have been actively co- creating in art, fashion and music to showcase the diversity of the Hennessy brand while staying true to the classics. This vitality for creativity is very much in line with ours.

Fashion and cognac may seem like distinct worlds. How did you approach bringing these two luxury realms together in your designs?

At the beginning of the collaboration, I traveled to the Cognac region of France to learn about Hennessy's brand culture and the history of Cognac. I visited estates, and cognac cellars and how to make cognac casks, before going to the origin to find the entry point of fashion. I looked at the bottle as a fashion statement through the traditional Chinese brocade pattern, leather, silk and other textiles that are representative of fashion. In the meantime, the visual colors of red and gold are used to emphasize the classic Hennessy, thus echoing both classicism and innovation.

Your designs often evoke a strong sense of storytelling. What story are you hoping to tell through this collaboration? Both with the motifs and the overall aesthetic?

In a fusion of fashion and luxury, the collection, called Re-imagination, is in honor of the snake, which is about renewal and positive transformation, leaving behind the past and embracing new beginnings. What I want to show is a Glitterous Snake that takes us on a journey in the spring fields of flowers. The shine of the Snake echoes the sunlight glittering reflection of the Charente river flowing in the city of Cognac. The snake is shedding its old skin, leaving behind the winter of the past, and taking on a new form of festive colors with which it enters the new year.

What do you hope people feel or experience when they see and interact with the “Reimagination” bottles during the Lunar New Year celebrations?

I hope that when people look at the Cognac bottle, they will feel the joy of the New Year festivities and the beautiful symbolism of the snake. In the Lunar New Year, we let go of the regrets and shortcomings of the past then embrace new challenges. Just as the snake undergoes a molting process to embrace spring with a new look, we leave the past and embrace a new beginning.

Follow Shuting Qiu on Instagram and shop this exquisite collection via hennessy.com. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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