You’re best known for the entrance you constructed of Murano glass beads at the Palais-Royal – Musée du Louvre Métro station, commissioned to celebrate the underground system’s centenary in 2000. Has glass always been your medium?

At the beginning of my career, I worked with materials I could melt myself, such as wax and sulphur. But I was attracted to glass because it is so magical… Think about how early humans first discovered glass. They would have seen a lightning strike touching sand and transforming it into glass. To them it would have been a sign from a god.

What appeals to me is that metamorphosis, that transmutation of the material. A stone is crushed to become sand, then you melt the sand and it becomes a stone again. And you can interfere in those moments of fragility of the material to produce a strong revelation.

What is your process when working with glass?

I am not a glassblower myself. I needed to find the best artisans to work with me, to be able to realise my ideas. It took me maybe 10 years to really understand the limits or the quality or different properties of glass. I started by joining Cirva, the government-funded research and creative institute in Marseille, where they produce specific glass for different artists, architects and designers.

On different projects, I had to find various types of artisans and unique techniques in different countries, which was also a great excuse to travel. I worked in Mexico, Japan, India, the West Coast of the States and, of course in Venice, where I worked in Murano a lot. It has always been a dialogue with the artisans.

As an artist using skilled artisans to realise your vision, you are not dissimilar to a cellarmaster such as Renaud Fillioux de Gironde, Hennessy’s maître de chai, who blends different eaux de vie, many of which are produced by independent distillers…

What is a cognac? It’s a blend of flavours and of different times. The maître de chai is taking blends someone made 50 or 60 or 100 years ago and blending them further; and at the same time is blending new eaux de vie, working not maybe for himself but for another generation. You are not working just for the time you are here, but you’re working with the past for the future. This was very inspiring for me. I feel as if I am a conductor, bringing together experts in different instruments to play my composition. It’s all about emotion. When you drink cognac, when you smell cognac, you have different notes, you have different flavours, and you have to blend them together to give something special. And Hennessy XO is really a symphony!

Your Hennessy x Othoniel Masterpiece XO decanters have the glass emerging from a wooden shell which is itself encrusted with vibrant coloured crystals. Which artisans did you turn to for this project?

We worked with Baccarat, which is the best for crystal in France, for sure. Their technique of cutting the glass is part of their DNA. But what is less known, they are very good for colour; they have a beautiful palette of different coloured crystal. For me it was important to use crystal colour to express different facets of the cognac itself. When I watched them blending, I was so impressed by the different colours of the eaux de vie that come together to make cognac… even different shades in one glass of Hennessy XO. My desire was to capture that sense. You can see all those gems surrounding the most beautiful one in the centre – the decanter of cognac itself.

There are so many collaborations between drinks brands and artists these days that we have to be selective about the ones we cover, ones that have creative value. Have luxury drinks companies become the replacements for nobility in previous centuries, as the chief patrons of art?

I can’t deny LVMH is one of the best patrons for a lot of artists, both French and from other parts of the world. But it’s because the owner [Bernard Arnault] loves art. So, he brings his different brands into art. It’s not about strategy at all; it’s about passion. In terms of strategy, there are areas you can work with that are stronger than art, you know – human rights or ecology. And that’s why I feel totally comfortable working on this type of collaboration because, for me, it’s the way to bring beauty to people and people who don’t really know my work. Because there is also the limited-edition version of this bottle, which will reach more homes, it’s like a bottle to the sea, you know, which will meet people in different parts of the world. It’s a win-win connection.

Do such commissions come with restrictions and compromises?

I felt totally free from the beginning. I wanted to taste the cognac, I wanted to meet the people there. Then I took all those information and I started to dream about how to put a very special blend into a shape that can express what is Hennessey, develop ideas and create drawings, without restrictions. The only requirement was the essential shape of the Hennessy XO bottle. But I’m lucky, because this shape of bottle is so iconic, and working with it was very interesting. In fact, I love frames when I work. You know, I always say I’m like a rose bush. The more you prune me, the more I flower.

An undisclosed, and very small, number of Hennessy x Othoniel Masterpiece XO decanters (£30,000) is available from the Hennessy boutique at Harrods, where it can also be refilled; as is a limited-edition version (£200), with a metallic shell that echoes the design of the original.

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