Innovation Awards spotlight | Sous les Mers
In December 2025, our prestigious jury — featuring leading names including Bacardi, Moët Hennessy, Pernod Ricard, Rémy Cointreau, and many more – came together to evaluate the entries for the PLD Innovation Awards. The winners were then unveiled, celebrated, and honoured at the inaugural Innovation Awards Gala, held on the eve of Paris Packaging Week 2026.
For this second opus of the Voyages Extraordinaires collection, Cyril Camus, fifth generation at the head of the Maison, gave carte blanche to imagine a packaging worthy of the exceptional cognac crafted by Master Blender Julie Landreau, and inspired from Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”.
The objective was to create an exceptional piece capable not only of showcasing and protecting the spirit, but of transcending its primary function by becoming an object that extends the story and the tasting experience of this uniquely saline cognac.
Thus began the ambitious brief entrusted to the creative team, at the dawn of a new extraordinary voyage. Dear members of the jury, Les Ateliers Camus now invite you to embark on this odyssey: the quest for a mythical creature, guardian of a cognac shaped by the ocean itself.
How did the pack fulfil the brief?
A packaging traditionally exists to protect its contents. For this cognac assembled beneath the ocean, Les Ateliers Camus reinterpreted this function while preserving its symbolism, creating a guardian that watches over the spirit. They drew inspiration from a chapter of Jules Verne’s novel in which the Nautilus is attacked by giant octopuses and collaborated with Daum to bring the creature to life. The tentacles were cast in bronze, while the head, crafted in pâte de cristal, introduced a major innovation: the counterform of the wax mold, usually shaped in clay, was 3D printed here. This process reduced production time while preserving the artisan’s final touch, keeping human skill and creativity at the heart of the work and allowing the craftsmen to flourish.
Often, the most responsible creative act is to reuse what already exists before producing anew. The crystal decanters thus come from a Daum archival lot, giving the work a poetic and conscious dimension of upcycling.
Why do you believe this pack deserves to win an Innovation Award?
Sous les Mers redefined packaging as a total artwork where the spirit and its vessel are one: neither can exist without the other.
In a responsible gesture, Maison Camus offers a refill service through its private concierge, allowing a new ocean-aged blend to be imagined, ensuring the artwork lives on forever.
Who did you work with on this project?
The design of Sous les Mers was entirely conceived in-house by Maison Camus. The piece was crafted by the Daum crystal manufactory in France.
