Champagne Perrier-Jouët has announced the winner of the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon Prize 2014, Laura Youngson Coll. Laura was selected by the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon members from a shortlist of ten candidates for her fulfilment of the criteria to evoke a contemporary interpretation of the ethos of the Art Nouveau movement, with inspiration coming from natural forms and organic structures, which are intrinsic to the Art Nouveau era. A strong sense of craftsmanship and beauty was at the centre of their work, reflecting the style of Champagne Perrier-Jouët.
Laura Youngson Coll
Laura Youngson Coll was born in Co. Durham in 1978 and currently lives and works in London and draws inspiration from the natural world. She uses techniques of on-laying, paring and manipulating saturated leather, disengaged from its familiar function within bookbinding and employed within intricate sculptural works. The work is designed to question assumptions about the aesthetic of leather, to provoke a closer look and to articulate the often-overlooked details of the environments we inhabit.
Gloves by Laura Youngson Coll
The grant Laura receives will include a £10,000 cash prize to support her development, an exhibition of her work and a trip to Perrier-Jouët Maison Belle Époque in Epernay, France, which houses the largest collection of Art Nouveau works in Europe.
Long established within the arts since its founding in 1811, the House of Perrier-Jouët has enjoyed a close association with the Applied Arts and Crafts since 1902, when Art Nouveau protagonist Emile Gallé was commissioned to create the now iconic Anemone Belle Epoque bottle design. The Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon, made up of 18 of the UK’s foremost creative influencers, is now in its second year.
by Amanda Bernstein