Jacky Tsai’s audacious colours and daring ideas

Designing Martell’s limited editions

A daring and prolific talent, ​Chinese artist Jacky Tsai explores ancestral oriental techniques across a range of mediums, from painting and sculpture, to installations and digital art.

His original style finds a delicate balance and harmony between cultural extremes, which fuses traditional Eastern artistic techniques and imagery with references to Western pop art to create iconic collages.

Perhaps he is best known for the emblem created for British fashion designer Alexander McQueen in 2008, of a skull depicted by intricate flowers.

Beneath its surface-level beauty ran a deeper message, which aimed to dispel attitudes of fear and superstition prevalent in his home country, and encourage the emergence of beauty in decay.

Now the young talent has turned his unique regard to Maison Martell, collaborating on two of Martell’s emblematic cognacs, with a striking celebration of audacity – that of the artist, and the House.

Given carte blanche, Tsai’s concept for a Martell Noblige Limited Edition bottle and box is vivid and spectacular.

It depicts an encounter between a flying swift, which embodies Martell’s spirit of freedom and daring, and a jumping tiger – a reference to the Chinese Year of the Tiger 2022.

The artist’s bold use of colour and imagery evokes the dynamism of Martell Noblige, at once poetic and contemporary.

There’s also a surprise in store. Scanning a QR code unlocks an augmented reality experience that brings the bottle to life – an audacious demonstration of the artist’s expertise across multiple mediums. 

In his box design for Martell VSOP, a limited edition that includes two tumblers, Tsai pays homage to the specific ageing process that produces this cognac’s luscious aromas.

His artwork incorporates oak barrels, a reference to Maison Martell’s decision to age its eaux-de-vie exclusively in barrels of fine-grained oak. The graceful flying swift makes a reappearance in collage, alongside the tiger, which this time is calmly poised.