mnstr Collaborates with AI to Celebrate 170th Anniversary of Maison Guerlain’s Falcon Aux Abeilles

Having already won an award in 2022 for its collaboration with Maison Guerlain on the Reaverse project, Paris-based agency mnstr is launching a film produced in collaboration with artificial intelligence (AI) to mark the 170th anniversary of Guerlain's famed ‘Flacon aux Abeilles’. Almost 1,800 images generated by artificial intelligence are compiled in the film ‘Born in 1853. Made for the future’, which retraces the illustrious history of the bottle through the ages and artistic movements, before picturing it in a utopian future.

mnstr has explored the issues associated with artificial intelligence recently, during the mnstr 3030 conference series, in March 2023. On this occasion however, it has joined forces with digital studio Bonjour Lab to develop and train a bespoke AI model that is capable of recognising and reproducing Maison Guerlain's ‘Flacon aux Abeilles’ where existing tools were unable to.

An in-depth study of art history and extensive research of the Guerlain archives enabled us to trace the ‘Flacon aux Abeilles’ to key moments in its history. Each of these moments, past and future, was then synthesised in the form of a prompt (a written request sent to the AI, containing all the key words needed to generate a faithful image) written by the mnstr team. This laborious but essential work underlines the importance of human input when working with AI.

At a time when concerns are being raised about the use of generative art tools for creative purposes - often to the detriment of artists - mnstr has decided to move away from a binary confrontation between man and machine, and instead consider AI as a creative ally. With this in mind, the agency has set out to establish clear guidelines for the use of generative art tools. It has drawn up three rules, paying homage to the three laws once decreed by Isaac Asimov, the famous Science Fiction writer and forerunner of artificial intelligence:

• Every image generated should be the result of a collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence: AI is never the sole creative force.
• Humans and AI should work together to elevate the artistic process to a level of creative excellence that they could not achieve on their own.
• Imperfections and anomalies - characteristics of generative art - must not be erased. These are the hallmarks of original creative exploration.

The film ‘Born in 1853. Made for the future’ will be screened at the Vivatech trade fair in Paris, from June 14th to 17th, in a new immersive format allowing visitors to explore the different eras and themes associated with each image generated. The film will also be available via Guerlain's social networks and website.

(Left to right: Louis Bonichon creative director & co-founder, mnstr, Martin Friedrich, strategic planner, mnstr and Ann-Caroline Prazan, international art, culture & heritage director, Maison Guerlain.)

"There are very few brands that can lay claim to an object that is timeless enough to span 170 years of history. We wanted to share this heritage, but through the prism of science fiction. In terms of format, we used AI. This allowed us to visualise the bottle through the great visual movements of history, but also because AI is the visual language of today. In terms of content, it is a journey through time, taking us back to its origins in 1853, as well as transporting us into the distant future... 170 years from now… allowing us to celebrate the ‘Flacon aux Abeilles’ in surreal, highly original settings." said Louis Bonichon, creative director & co-founder - mnstr.

"AI writes, codes and draws better than we do, that's a fact. However, human input was essential in the creation of this film: to identify the key historical periods that shaped the reputation of the ‘Flacon aux Abeilles’; to clearly understand the art history references so we could feed precise instructions to the AI; to select the best quality visuals, etc.. In this respect, it was a true collaboration, one in which we played the role of artistic director rather than executor! AI may be getting a bad press at the moment, but we're remain convinced that it is an interesting ally in our creative ambitions, provided we set ourselves clear guidelines to guard against the excesses we're seeing today." said Martin Friedrich, strategic planner - mnstr.

“Guerlain’s history is deeply rooted into art history and broadly speaking the definition of beauty through time. Loyal to its ambition to treasure every artistic gesture, Guerlain couldn’t remain alien to the world of AI generative art and wanted to experiment with it, hand in hand with our creative excellence. The Bee Bottle’s 170th anniversary was a perfect opportunity to sublimate our rich heritage and project the Bee Bottle’s into the 170 years to come”. Said Ann-Caroline Prazan, international art, culture & heritage director - Maison Guerlain.