Iris Van Herpen wins inaugural Perrier-Jouët Design for Nature award

Dutch fashion designer and couturier Iris Van Herpen has been named the winner of the inaugural edition of the Perrier-Jouët Design for Nature a Award, created to encourage designers to explore sustainability through their work.

The prize was created jointly by Maison Perrier-Jouët and Design Miami and invites designers to “investigate sustainability through the spirit of Art Nouveau - a philosophy that celebrates the profound interconnectedness of nature, culture and creativity,” said Perrier-Jouët in the press release.

The annual award is designed to reward designers who “merge artistic innovation with environmental responsibility, fostering collaborative and regenerative design practices that embody a constructive optimism for a more sustainable future”.

Van Herpen, known for fusing technology and science with traditional haute couture craftsmanship and an affinity to nature and sustainable innovation, is described by Perrier-Jouët as “one of fashion’s most forward-thinking designers,” due to her cutting-edge work that “reveals the invisible beauty of living systems, translating organic forces, micro-rhythms and subterranean life into visible form”.

“Like Art Nouveau at its origins, her work makes nature active: it becomes not simply a motif, but a collaborator,” added the French champagne house.

Iris Van Herpen to créate nature-based work for Design Miami 2026

As the winner of the Perrier-Jouët Design for Nature Award, Van Herpen has been offered carte blanche to create a unique work that will be showcased at the 2026 edition of Design Miami.

The award follows her latest nature-driven collection, ‘Sympoiesis,’ shown at Paris Couture Week in July, which drew inspiration from the ocean and biodesign, featuring a “living look” that didn’t use traditional fabric but featured 125 million living algae cells in transparent, nutrient-rich tubing that glowed in the dark in response to movement, while other looks showcased coral-like structures, jellyfish-inspired motion, and cascading gills.

Commenting on the honour, Van Herpen said: “My work has long explored the symbiosis between fashion and art. The opportunity to create a design-led experience at Design Miami 2026 is really inspiring and allows me to deepen my exploration of the ever-shifting relationship between our body and the living forces of nature.”

Van Herpen was chosen as the first recipient of the Perrier-Jouët Design for Nature Award by Axelle de Buffévent, global culture and creative director at the Pernod Ricard Group, and writer and historian Glenn Adamson, curatorial director of Design Miami 2025.

On how Van Herpen impressed, Axelle de Buffévent added: “Her unique and inspiring vision epitomises the concept of the Award, which encourages designers to go beyond the dominant rhetoric of sustainability and to interrogate it with a joyful and optimistic lens.”