Parisian jeweller Lorenz Bäumer has designed a hand-faceted Baccarat crystal bottle for Hennessy to celebrate the NBA's 75th anniversary season.
Bäumer and his team hand-crafted 75 spherical, 1.75-litre carafes to mark 75 years of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the USA.
"The 75 limited-edition masterpieces celebrate the 75th anniversary of the NBA and express the synergy of Maison Hennessy, Baccarat and mine: audacity and determination, rigour and consistency, a pioneering language and a guarantee of excellence," Bäumer told Dezeen.
"All the artisans and creators worked together in harmony to pay tribute to NBA athletes for 75 years."
The basketball-shaped bottle, which contains Hennessy's Paradis cognac, was created by blowing a sphere into a mould that was then recut by Baccarat's master craftsmen.
Each of the 75 carafes has a unique faceted surface designed to reflect the cognac it holds.
Bäumer aimed to create a form in crystal that was immediately recognisable as a basketball.
However, he also wanted the design to have a sense of fun with gold markings that follow the lines of a basketball.
"It is essential to have fun when you create because it is translated into the creation that you make," said Bäumer.
"I liked to work the crystal to transform it into a jewel, to optimize the play of light, the facets to recreate the movement."
Bäumer also designed an orange leather case for the basketball-shaped bottle that opens up to act as a kind of "trophy case" display for the carafe. A golden key opens both the case and the bottle.
Each set is complete with a pair of Baccarat crystal glasses that match the bottle and an arced fusil pipette.
Creating a limited-edition bottle that had the feel of a piece of jewellery was a challenge, according to Bäumer.
"Working with crystal, recreating the aspects of a jewel was a real challenge," he said.
"The technical challenges were numerous to achieve this sculpture of light: a neckless bottle that opens with a key, a large mass of crystal to be blown and cut by hand, the realization of the box that opens with the same key, basketball-shaped glasses…"
Previously, Hennessy worked with Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry to create a crinkled gold bottle to mark the 150th anniversary of Hennessy X.O, while architect Daniel Libeskind created an angular bottle for the Richard Hennessy cognac.
The photography is courtesy of Hennessy.