LOUIS XIII La Boutique

WORDS Cheri Morris

The first ever LOUIS XIII La Boutique opened at Beijing SKP with an interior architecture that translates the venerable cognac into a physical experience.

Designed by world-renowned French architecture and design firm RDAI, the 130 square metre space embodies the intricate alchemy of up to 1200 eaux-de-vie that are used to create the cognac over a maturation period of 100 years. The boutique is made up of different spaces that cleverly blend symbolic materials, artistic lighting, traditional heritage and digital innovation to evoke the varied facets of the LOUIS XIII experience.

RDAI’s sensorial design concept allows for each space in the boutique to offer a new experience. Each material used in the spaces recall a part of the LOUIS XIII creation process; polished copper finishes recall the stills, mature oak recalls the casks in which the cognac is matured, the limestone walls recall the chalky soil of Grande Champagne and polished glass light-bricks by OZONE recall the glasses in which the cognac is served.

The Eternity Room is framed by the design centrepiece that is the Century Wheel. The Century Wheel spans from ceiling to floor and twinkles with 100 luminous light beads that illuminate with the simple passage of the hand through the use of state-of-the-art digital technology by ByVOLTA. As the hand passes around the wheel, the 1 200 light-bricks that dot the walls illuminate in various shades of white to amber representing the different colours that the eaux-de-vie acquires through each decade of maturation.

View a 360-degree video of the LOUIS XIII La Boutique below.