Angel Chen X Martell Noblige
One of China’s brightest talents, and a graduate of the prestigious Central Saint Martins college of art and design in London, fashion designer Angel Chen has developed a bold and colourful style which mixes traditional Chinese motifs with modern Western aesthetics, reflecting her cosmopolitan background. “For me, Maison Martell is built on tradition, but also open to the vitality of the contemporary world. This energy is at the core of my inspiration,” she says. Angel Chen captures the vibrant energy of Martell Noblige in an exuberant illustration of a fantastical sea voyage showing a dragon boat navigating raging waves. The design, which covers the Noblige bottle in her signature colours of red, yellow and blue, is an evocation of Maison Martell’s first shipments to China in 1858, as well as the encounter of East and West represented by this collaboration. “The East meeting the West is an odyssey. It is full of contrasts, surprises, audacity, vibrant intensity,” says Angel Chen – just like her creation for Martell Noblige.

Pierre Marie X Martell Cordon Bleu
Renowned for his exquisitely detailed designs which fuse references to ancestral craft techniques with contemporary visual codes, artist and ornamentist Pierre Marie reinterpreted House icon Martell Cordon Bleu. “When I visited Maison Martell in Cognac, I was fascinated to discover the archives, and in particular the illustrated posters which were used in advertising campaigns. They were the inspiration for the poetic, narrative style of my designs for Martell Cordon Bleu,” he says. The first of the artist’s two designs, each of which is accompanied by a specially composed poem, is entitled The Vine and the Oak. An intricate tracery of leaves and shoots in rich shades of red and gold evokes the “love affair” between the vine and the oak from which cognac is born.

The second design, entitled The Epic Voyage, is exclusive to global travel retail. It illustrates the subsequent journey of the vine and the oak around the world with motifs of ships, trains and hot-air balloons, interspersed with red and gold clouds, a traditional Chinese symbol of good fortune. “I was impressed by the foresight with which Jean Martell and his successors developed the export trade in the 18th century,” explains Pierre Marie. “The vision of the barrels of cognac travelling around the world to far-flung destinations inspired this second theme.” Gracefully interwoven through both designs, which decorate the bottle of Martell Cordon Bleu, is the blue ribbon of excellence, the emblem of this legendary blend, an icon in the world of cognac and beyond.

With Martell Exclusives, cognac lovers everywhere can come together to celebrate generosity, creativity and audacity during the festive season and beyond.

The Martell Exclusives gifting collection will be available from November 2020 from leading retailers.

About Maison Martell
The oldest of the great cognac houses, founded by Jean Martell in 1715, Maison Martell is renowned throughout the world for the finesse and elegance of its cognacs, the result of a legacy of savoir-faire handed down through nine generations. Together with a passion for its craft and a profound attachment to the terroir, Maison Martell is defined by the audacity with which it has pioneered new expressions of cognac – from the icon Martell Cordon Bleu in 1912 to the trailblazing Martell Blue Swift today.