When LOUIS XIII Cognac chose New York City as a stage for its first-ever porcelain unveiling, it paired the occasion with an intimate dinner at Maison Barnes, the Upper East Side culinary outpost of Daniel Boulud. The evening gathered design tastemakers, musicians, and connoisseurs to witness the debut of Art de la Table, the House’s inaugural tableware collections, conceived as an extension of its storied craftsmanship.

The two porcelain lines—Soil is Our Soul and Light of Time—were realized in collaboration with J.L. Coquet of Limoges, the venerable French porcelain atelier. Each piece took between three and four weeks to complete, a discipline echoed in the cognac itself, where time, patience, and terroir converge. Only 750 numbered editions of each six-piece collection exist, allowing LOUIS XIII to walk the fine line between exclusivity and utility.

At Maison Barnes, the porcelain served more than food: it framed the night. The Soil is Our Soul line evokes the chalky soils of Grande Champagne—nutrient-rich ground that nurtures the eaux-de-vie that become LOUIS XIII—with tactile texture that recalls earth under one’s fingertips. Light of Time, by contrast, plays with light and shadow: carved facets allow illumination to filter and dance over the surfaces, asserting that porcelain, like cognac, is an alchemy of patience revealed.

Maison Barnes serves as an emblem of French art de vivre in New York, offering private dining rooms and elevated cuisine rooted in refined technique. Its position on 63rd Street under Chef Boulud’s culinary vision makes it an ideal venue for a dinner such as this, where the boundary between table and theater feels deliberately porous.

Inside, the mood shifted between warmth and precision. Guests moved through courses plated on the new porcelain—appetizers, mains, desserts—each dish becoming a moment suspended in both time and taste. The table became a canvas for light, dimension, and narrative, not simply service ware.

Among the evening’s luminaries were Athena Calderone, known for her design and editorial work at EyeSwoon, and celebrated pianist Chloe Flower, whose poise and interludes bridged artistry and ambiance. They joined Chef Boulud and a select circle of guests to experience the debut firsthand.

In his remarks, Boulud articulated the philosophy behind the evening:

That credo guides the collaboration: the dishes, the plates, the guests—all components of one orchestrated moment, where food, design, and brand narrative converge.

LOUIS XIII has long been synonymous with craftsmanship in spirit, but Art de la Table represents a pivot into a larger sensory domain. The brand signals that its legacy is not merely to be tasted, but to be lived—in table settings, in interiors, and in ritual. As Bloomberg recently observed, this launch marks part of its ambition to expand beyond cognac into a broader lifestyle universe.

The two porcelain lines serve different aesthetic roles: one grounding the experience in earth and origin, the other weaving light into its expression of time. In both, the guiding hand is tradition: 40 artisans at J.L. Coquet collaborated to develop over a dozen new techniques to produce each limited piece.

Priced individually and as full sets (from approximately $3,400 to $4,000), these porcelain pieces become a new type of heirloom: functional art that carries the brand’s DNA into daily rituals.

The dinner at Maison Barnes was more than a product launch. It was a demonstration of how heritage brands can push outward—from cellar to table—to reframe the rituals surrounding consumption. Here, the collectible porcelain becomes a language of identity: who we are, how we dine, and what we value.

In the aftermath, guests depart with memory made in craftsmanship, light, and conversation. The plates will return to storage, the decanter to its display, but the evening lingers—proof that when brand, art, and culinary vision align, luxury feels like the present.