Mineral water company Perrier has announced a collaboration with renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, which the company says is to be inspired by his bright and colourful world as much as it is by Perrier’s creative spirit. Entitled PERRIER × MURAKAMI, two premium, screen-printed glass bottles of limited-edition PERRIER® will be put on the market in early October 2020 with original artwork by Takashi Murakami. The entire range, in Murakami’s colours and designs, will then be released at the start of 2021, followed by a limited Roland Garros edition which will only be available in France.
Murakami’s smiling flowers are intended to add a generous helping of colour and joy to the green Perrier bottles. Kaikai and Kiki, the most popular Murakami characters, will also be something to behold on the 330 ml bottle and will additionally appear with Takashi Murakami in a 30-second film. Kaikai and Kiki have their roots in an adjective invented to describe Kano Eitoku, a Japanese painter from the 16th century. The expression “kaikai kiki” can be translated as “brave, strong and sensitive” or, as Murakami puts it, “bravo” or “wow”. Kaikai, white with rabbit ears, is sweet and chirpy; Kiki, pink with no fewer than three lively eyes, a wide smile and little vampire teeth, comes across as being somewhat mischievous. Perrier has a long tradition of collaborating with well-known artists, from Jean-Gabriel Domergue to Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol and even street artists.
