Nicolas Feuillatte’s top 10 Champagne artworks

Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte’s social media competition saw entrants depict their trip of a lifetime using bottle caps and wire cages for a chance to win a holiday worth up to £17,000.

Champagne house Nicolas Feuillatte recently announced the winner and finalists of its ‘Nicolas Feuillatte Fulfils Your Dreams’ social media competition. Participants uploaded pictures or videos to their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages using the cap and wire cage from a bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte to illustrate their trip of a lifetime.

The pieces could include pictures, drawings and other media and were shared using the hashtags #EnchantingLife and #NicolasFeuillatte.

The winner, drawn at random “from a selection of the best and most original ideas,” was awarded a holiday worth up to £17,000, based on the inspiration behind their creation.

From planes and trains to canoes and golf, we take a look at the most creative entries, ranked from 10^th place through to 1^st place.

10^th place: Temples Bali – Indonesia by Jen Prior

Jen’s piece is inspired by her dream holiday to Bali, a trip she has wanted to make since visiting Cambodia in her teens.

“I absolutely loved the culture, the temples and the people were so friendly.”

Jen has used both the bottle cap and Champagne wire in her design. She currently designs illustrations under the name “Little Paper Tulip” and this competition gave her the perfect opportunity to practise her craft.

9^th place: Castaway Desert Island by Alison Barlow

Castaway Desert Island is inspired by the Tom Hanks classic, in which Chuck Noland, a FedEx employee, is marooned on a desert island following a plane crash. The work depicts his escape and the heart wrenching moment that Noland is unable to retrieve Wilson, a volleyball that became his ‘companion.’ Hopefully Alison’s dream trip of a lifetime is a little less dramatic.

In her work, she uses the bottle cap together with the Champagne wire, cork and foil to depict the memorable film scene.

8^th place: Maldives by Poppy Tanner

Poppy’s video features the Nicolas Feuillatte bottle itself together with the bottle cap and Champagne foil. Commenting on the inspiration behind her project, she said that it “was mainly sparked by my passion for sun, sea and discovering new places. I have worked in stop motion quite a bit previously and thought this would be a unique twist on my entry. I could then fully encapsulate everything I love about the holidays from the sounds of the waves to reading your book on the beach.”

In her video, she creates underwater scenes featuring painted fish, a turtle and someone paddle-boarding, and a beach scene with a palm tree and refreshing coconut drink.

Poppy graduated from the Arts University in Bournemouth with a degree in Illustration. She now works in a college in the New Forest as a learning support assistant in the art department.

7^th place: Dubai by Darren Hodgson

Darren’s piece was inspired by his “main passion” – golf. It features a stick man, carefully crafted out of Champagne wire, about to tee off.

Commenting on his work, Darren said “I love the game [golf] and tried to portray my ultimate golfing dream, playing on the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club course. I feel that drinking Nicolas Feuillatte after a round of golf in the Dubai sunset is my ultimate dream.”

6^th place: Star-gazing by Julia Threlfall-Dayus

Julia’s collage depicts the sunset on a clear, starry night, with a figure using a telescope to observe the sky. She has used the Champagne foil, wire and bottle cap as part of her design. After over 35 years of teaching, Julia has recently retired and hopes to spend time pursuing her creative interests: felt making, willow weaving, pyrography, and of course, stargazing.

Explaining her inspiration, she said, “to gaze at a star-filled night without urban light must be one of nature’s most beautiful sights. I dreamed of attending a ‘Dark Sky Festival’ to celebrate stargazing with fun filled nights of both science and adventure with all my family.”

5^th place: Japan by Vyki Sparkes

Museum curator Vyki’s work is inspired by her daughter’s love of Japan. The piece was a joint project – Vyki adopting an “art director role (if that means telling people what to do, and then asking them several times to redo it the way you envisaged it)” while her partner, a technical manager by day, did the cutting.

The couple chose to attempt a papercutting, an art form with a long history in Asia. Besides paper, they incorporate both the bottle cap and the Champagne wire into their piece.

Commenting on the design, Vyki said “as Japan is the land of the rising sun, the circular bottle top lid lent itself to representing the sun, and the radial lines draw attention to it and help create impact and activity.”

“The wire pagoda was the last part to come together, the idea came after playing with the wire and thinking of simple Japanese shapes and icons.”

4^th place: NYC by Glenn Edwards

Glenn has fashioned his Champagne cork into a helicopter complete with a propeller, using both foil and wire. The plane circles above a photo of New York’s Statue of Liberty, which instead of her torch, proudly brandishes the Nicolas Feuillatte logo.

Commenting on the project, he said, “I simply started with a location that I would like to go to – New York. And the best view – from a helicopter which is a must do I believe. If you can afford it. I’m semi retired now and found myself with some spare time. In between all the jobs around the house that I’m trying to catch up with.”

3^rd place: Kenya by Michael Stringer

Michael’s inspiration came from “simply the desire to visit Kenya and go on safari there.” He has used the Champagne wire to form a giraffe and the bottle cap to depict a hot air balloon.

Describing the design process, Michael “chose to create a sunset scene where the animals would be seen in a tranquil, enchanting way and so used an orange background with silhouette foreground to capture this.”

In his spare time, he enjoys painting beach scenes and entering similar creative competitions.

2^nd place: Alaska Train by Poppy Goodheart

Poppy was inspired by her honeymoon during which she and her partner travelled on the Aurora winter train in Alaska to see the Northern Lights. Tying the knot in December 2016, the couple “wanted to do something romantic yet adventurous” and the awe-inspiring and dramatic mountain scenery fitted the bill.

Poppy added, “The stylish yet simplistic colour scheme of my entry – black, gold and white – was inspired by the bottle itself. We thought it would be a unique honeymoon adventure and a perfect opportunity to enjoy some Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne en-route!”

1^st place: Las Vegas Trip by Nicola Cook

Nabbing the top spot, Nicola’s video depicts her trip of a lifetime which she admits, she would have struggled to depict in just a photo. Inspired by films and TV programmes, she “often looks up filming locations when a particular place or piece of architecture catches [her] eye.”

“I’m also fascinated by natural and man-made structures and get a real sense of enjoyment when I see them in real life,” she added.

On hearing about the project, Nicola purchased a promotional bottle and set about creating the numerous pieces featured in her work. The Champagne cork is used to create a canoe, the foil to decorate a hot air balloon and form the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, while the wire forms the cables of San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge and a bottle cap creates the centre of a Ferris wheel.

Nicola added that the work took four weeks to complete and that “the hard part was creating it and the hardest part of all was structuring the Champagne wire!”