Yinka Ilori x Veuve Clicquot: joy in yellow

Veuve Clicquot brought a champagne bucket, a bottle holder shaped like a calabash, and a custom gift box to Milan Design Week 2026, but the real draw is an installation called “Chasing the Sun” by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori. The project is being unveiled during the Fuorisalone program from April 20 to April 26, 2026, at Mediateca Santa Teresa in Milan’s Brera district. (fuorisalone.it) Ilori is the designer brands call when they want color to read as a public event, not just decoration. Brera Design District and Fuorisalone both describe him as the “Architect of Joy,” which is exactly the persona Veuve Clicquot is borrowing for this launch. (breradesigndistrict.it) The yellow doing most of the work here is not random. Veuve Clicquot says the sun color on its labels dates back to 1877, so the installation ties Ilori’s bright palette to a house color the champagne maker has used for nearly 150 years. (wallpaper.com) The collection itself is built around Veuve Clicquot’s Yellow Label and Rosé bottles. On its official teaser page, the maison says Ilori designed a set of exclusive objects to accompany those two cuvées rather than replacing the bottles with a new product line. (veuveclicquot.com) One of the clearest Ilori signatures is the calabash form. WWD reports that he used the gourd as a recurring reference because calabash objects are widely used across West African culture and let him connect the project to his Nigerian family background. (wwd.com) The gift box has a small travel trick built into it. WWD says it reworks Veuve Clicquot’s arrow motif and can be personalized with the distance between a buyer’s chosen destination and the house’s cellars in Reims, France. (wwd.com) The Milan piece is not just a static display in a room. Fuorisalone and Brera Design Week both say visitors move from the installation into a Clicquot Café for food and champagne, then into a boutique where the Ilori-designed accessories will be sold. (fuorisalone.it) (breradesigndistrict.it) That setup explains why luxury brands keep showing up at Milan Design Week with design commissions instead of plain product launches. In one stop, Veuve Clicquot gets an art installation, a hospitality space, a retail shop, and a limited-edition story tied to one of the most photographed districts in the city. (breradesigndistrict.it) (wallpaper.com) Ilori told WWD he wanted the project to create “a dialogue with a new community,” and Veuve Clicquot is clearly using Milan to do that in public. Instead of asking people to notice a bottle on a shelf, it is asking them to walk through a yellow world built by a designer whose whole brand is optimism. (wwd.com)