and architecture,’ he says. ‘We have always been trying to work together, so the idea of collaborating on this project came naturally to my mind.’
For Vital, so used to creating oversized works that literally tower above the horizon, the opportunity to reduce his footprint, was an irresistible challenge, not least because he’d always thought that if he hadn’t become an artist, he would have gone into the business of selling water. ‘It could have been a natural career for me, as I grew up in a region with diverse mineral waters.’
His final design for Evian was based, not surprisingly, on snow – specifically the long winters of his childhood in the mountains. ‘I grew up in snow and so, snow has always been an important motif in my work,’ he says, explaining how he’s always been drawn to explore the relationship between form and materials, making sculptures with white plaster and creating snowballs out of glass and