The tiger leaps forward, and the rabbit brings good luck. The Lunar New Year in 2023 will be earlier than usual. Chinese families all over the world are getting ready to welcome the new year just after New Year's Day is celebrated. But what reason is there to deny any reason for celebration and enjoyment? "Supreme" here selects a special version of Chinese New Year's wine and food gifts, hoping to bring you inspiration for Chinese New Year gifts.
Hennessy × Yan Peiming Chinese New Year Limited Series
Hennessy XO × Yan Peiming
Drawing portraits with bold and quick brushstrokes to create abstract visuals and grand narratives, contemporary Chinese painter Yan Pei-Ming is known worldwide for his unique artistic style. Yan Peiming, who immigrated to France since the 1980s, has never forgotten the inheritance of Chinese tradition and culture while constantly absorbing the essence of Western culture. Most of his works combine traditional painting forms and modernity. Keeping in mind the tradition while advancing with the times and bringing together the spirit of multiculturalism, this artistic concept coincides with the Hennessy brand philosophy. In 2023, Hennessy teamed up with Yan Peiming to release a limited cognac series. Fine wines are fused with art, turning them into an allegory of connection and coexistence across generations, geography, and cultural backgrounds.
Yan Peiming recalled the Spring Festival he spent with his family in China when he was a child: "At that time, basically everything had to be exchanged for food coupons, and each family had a certain amount of rations. Chinese New Year means that we can eat what we want that week. Any food. My parents and I go back to our hometown to visit relatives and friends. Reunion is the essence of Chinese New Year.” In 1970, Yan Peiming’s uncle brought back a bottle of Hennessy cognac from Paris and presented it to Yan Peiming’s grandfather. The design of the cognac bottle is amazing In addition to Yan Peiming, the brand of Hennessy was also engraved in his mind. Yan Peiming's work "La Grande Course" (meaning big race in Chinese) for this collaboration depicts 31 animals running together, conveying the message of freedom, tolerance and mutual connection. This is the first time Yan Peiming has tried a new color palette: amber, orange, terracotta and burgundy cognac harmoniously coexist, echoing the many eaux-de-vie and shades in Hennessy Cognac. "When you put a bottle of cognac in the sun, it changes a lot in tone and transparency. I wanted to paint cognac – but at the end of the day, the light is the true color of the painting," he said.
Hennessy's brand DNA has both tradition and adventurous spirit, which is also Yan Peiming's artistic style. Unlike most Chinese New Year special designs that only use the year's zodiac, Yan Peiming chose to depict the rabbit and all the Chinese zodiac signs in symbiosis: "I still can't describe in words why this painting is so important. I have a strong sixth sense. I know no one has depicted the Chinese zodiac like this before, both visible and invisible. I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something complex and something I could be proud of. Like dry Yap same: it is complicated to make. How you look at it is up to the individual. Above all, it is a painting. A good painting can travel through time, today, tomorrow, future. It is always fresh, always Trendy. Maybe one day the wild tigers disappear, but this painting will be here."
Hennessy will open a pop-up experience store, The Art of Personalization, at Holt Renfrew (50 Bloor Street) in Toronto from January 11, 2023 to January 30, 2023, displaying limited edition packaging art designed by Yan Peiming for the 2023 Chinese New Year, the iconic VS , VSOP, XO and Paradis, as well as personalized gifts through the art form of Chinese calligraphy. Customers who purchase Hennessy can enjoy a personalized wine bottle for free, order hand-drawn traditional calligraphy or automatically draw blessings on the cognac bottle.
The Art of Personalization
The Art of Personalization
Johnnie Walker Blue Label × Angel Chen
This year, Johnnie Walker collaborated with the famous fashion designer Angel Chen to launch a limited edition collection bottle design for Blue Label whiskey, featuring the 2023 zodiac animal – the lively rabbit. Its contemporary and dynamic image is characteristic. The rabbit symbolizes kindness, grace and beauty, and in traditional Asian culture, symbolizes longevity, as an echo of Johnnie Walker's motto Keep Walking. Throughout the design, the golden rabbit stretches its body and leaps towards a mountain inspired by Chinese landscape paintings on one side. Surrounded by clouds that are also full of Chinese classical beauty, the picture also incorporates an abstract galaxy with a contemporary artistic atmosphere.
Johnnie Walker Blue Label × Angel Chen
Ladurée Canada Lunar New Year Limited Collection
When it comes to Ladurée, a century-old French dessert shop, the first thing that pops up in everyone's mind is the low saturation and fresh colors, such as its signature light green and rose pink. In 2023, Ladurée Canada's Lunar New Year limited series packaging box combines French elegance with bright Chinese traditional red and gold to create a bold and enthusiastic visual effect, sending people the meaning of luck and abundance. Freshly made macarons have the best taste, and they should be enjoyed in a short time to feel their perfect state – the almond aroma is obvious, the shell is light and airy, and the filling is sweet but not greasy. The rose taste is full of natural floral fragrance, and the fragrance stays on the teeth and cheeks; the orange blossom flavor is unique and elegant; the passion fruit is refreshing and sweet…
Ladurée's Chinese New Year limited red package can hold eight macrons, and people can choose combinations from classic or seasonally limited flavors. During the Spring Festival, you can also choose to print additional rabbit shapes or add gold foil on the surface of Macron. The Chinese New Year limited macaron gift box is available in Yorkdale and Exchange Tower stores in Toronto, Robson Street store in Vancouver, and pop-up stores in Pacific Center and Vancouver Airport.
