While many of you might be familiar with the bubbling excellence of luxury champagne brand Veuve Clicquot, what you might not know is that the over 200 year old company has had a long standing commitment to design and aesthetics. In addition to releasing their own coffee table book, they have also collaborated in the past with such illustrious names as Andrée Putman, Karim Rashid, Pablo Reinoso, Tom Dixon, 5.5 Designers and Front Design.

In keeping with that rich tradition of design, this year Veuve Clicquot has commissioned works by the Campana Brothers and Mathieu Lehanneur to decorate the Hôtel du Marc, part of its newly renovated town house in Reims. The Tasting Gloriette by Fernando & Humberto Campana is a contemporary version of a gloriette for the residence’s garden, which will be dedicated to outdoor tastings and will stand in the Hôtel du Marc 19th century garden (To watch a video interview of the Campana Brothers, visit www.facebook/veuveclicquot ).

The second commissioned project Once Upon a Dream by Mathieu Lehanneur was designed with the intention of helping people “rapidly recuperate and adapt to their new surroundings, based on tested psychological studies used in sleep treatment clinics to help cure chronic insomnia.” This wonder “capsule installation” will allow visitors to Hôtel du Marc to recover as quickly as possible from jet lag. On a side note, this is an interesting allusion to the history of the Veuve Clicquot House, as mastermind Barbe-Nicole Clicquot-Ponsardin was a notorious insomniac.

Mathieu Lehanneur

For the salone 2010, Veuve launched two new designer collaborations in their Clicquotsphere.

The first is The Tasting Gloriette with the Campaña Brothers (a playful modern twist on the gazebo of sorts, using coiled thin metal to mimick and overgrowth of champagne vines on a bent wood base… resulting burning man yurt style contraption to relax under and a central nest cradling a champagne bucket).

The second is “Once Upon A Dream” by Mathieu Lehanneur ~ a retro futuristic looking bed ~ that is SO much more than a bed. It’s more of a luxury sleep experience created to help you get the best rest physically possible, optimized for jetlag recovery ~ through special lighting, white noise balancing, ideal temperatures, and curtains to create that womb like effect… there is even a plant hanging beside you which is used to control the lighting ~ and its even designed in conjunction with sleep scientists!

Sadly, the best sleep is apparently alone, so this bed is just for resting!

Both of these pieces will be installed in the Veuve Clicquot Hotel du Marc which is opening in spring 2011 (and it’s not a hotel at all, so much as their super guest house in Reims)… and in full Veuve Clicquot fashion ~ the champagne never stopped, the music was fun, the food was delicious, and they had unexpected surprises like keys you could try your luck to unlocking prizes… and even a special mailbox where you could write postcards which they will mail from Reims!