The Dom Pérignon champagne brand has joined forces with the iconic contemporary artist Jeff Koons to create a limited-edition version of a bottle, a giftbox and a bottle holder in line with his balloon-themed artistic style. For the project, the master has adapted its “Balloon Venus” magenta sculpture, inspired by a paleolithic fertility figurine, the Venus of Willendorf, discovered in Austria and dated back to around 23 000 BC.

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Photo: Jeff Koons with Dom Pérignon chef de cave Richard Geoffroy, demonstrating the case (click to enlarge)

The iconic youth-centric footwear brand Converse has teamed up with the fashion label Maison Martin Margiela to create a new collection of shoes that put two universes of the brands against each other, with colour. The Chuck Taylor All Star and the Jack Purcell sneaker styles were used in this collaboration to manifest the power of creativity and personal freedom.

The smart auto brand and the Danish furniture manufacturer BoConcept are re-imagining the urban outdoor space with a new artistic project, launched in support of their latest “My urban living room” creative collaboration. The two brands have tapped contemporary designers to create state-of-the-art outdoor installations, modern home space, in the street of four European cities. The extravagant open-air pop-up spaces are designed to highlight BoConcept’s smartville furniture collection and the smart fortwo edition BoConcept, the products that emerged from the brands’ tie-up.

Collaboration between artists and designers can be rewarding for all parties and can bring real value to clients and to each other. But everyone should go into the partnership with eyes wide open to the challenges and potential pitfalls of bringing people inexperienced in packaging into that highly stressful, highly demanding world. If the client and the agency keep in mind the points covered in this article, the chances of a successful artist collaboration are very, very good!

Kenzo is rolling out the second phase of its “X Campaign,” launched in fall 2012, with same artistic approach and the same creative minds behind the project. For the latest—spring 2013—installment, the global fashion brand decided to once again collaborate with internationally acclaimed artist Jean-Paul Goude, who is helping accentuate Kenzo’s styles with his unparalleled creative vision.

This month sees the two biggest Russian financial companies — VTB Group and BinBank — to launch their new retail banking brands on the local market. While VTB’s Leto Bank is seen as a future leader of the mass retail lending with a developed chain of offices, Elixir has recently started operating in Moscow and St Petersburg as a virtual financial branch issuing credit cards for individuals online.