“Illustration is a particularly creative art form, and I like the room it leaves to each person’s imagination.”

Château Angélus wine-maker and one of France’s most celebrated illustrators recently worked together to deliver a series of adverts celebrating love through a series of charming, quirky and classically beautiful illustrations  

For The Commission, The Client, The Creative in the Love edition of Varoom, we spoke to Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal, Co-owner and general manager of Château Angélus and illustrator Floc’h about their intriguing campaign for their brand.

What kind of advertising or communications has Angélus done before?

Stéphanie: We do very little advertising. For Château Angélus’s 2012 vintage, a special bottle was created to celebrate several major events in the history of our wine estate – the arrival of the eighth generation on the board of directors, the launching of building works to extend and embellish the property, as well as the estate’s promotion to the rank of Saint-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé “A”. This uniquely-designed bottle was chosen by us to promote Angélus in a worldwide advertising campaign. Advertising through the Floc’h illustrations is a first for us.

How did you decide on illustration for the campaign, and Floc’h in particular?

Illustration is a particularly creative art form, and I like the room it leaves to each person’s imagination.
I have always very much appreciated Floc’h’s work, his very personal universe, his style, his demanding standards and his elegance. Something timeless is transmitted in his work, and this ties in well with Angélus.

What kind of research did you do for the Angélus brief?

Floc’h: The quality of the Angélus wine is such that it can do without any claim whatsoever, it is possible to have an unconventional evocation, a simple suggestion without showing the bottle of Angélus. So I had an idea which seemed obvious, and even inevitable: associate Château Angélus with the famous painting of Jean François Millet, The Angélus. This world-famous painting had not yet produced any artistic avatars so it was the right time.

How did you think through the narratives, the relationship of the couple, the mise-en-scene?

My idea was to keep the construction of the painting of Jean François Millet and adapt it to the 21st century: there is repetition of the sky, recurrence of a bell tower or a vertical edifice and a couple, in communion.
I chose to draw real life people. Of course the first models I asked to pose for me are Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal and Thierry Grenié de Boüard, the eighth generation to preside over the destiny of Angélus.

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