In a fusion of sustainability and high art, Monaco-based bottled water brand Monacqua has partnered with acclaimed American artist George Condo to launch a series of limited-edition water bottles featuring his original artwork. The collaboration debuts in spring 2025, with the bottles priced as standard to ensure accessibility. A small number of signed editions will be auctioned off by renowned auctioneer Simon de Pury, with all proceeds going to the Princess Grace Foundation to support paediatric healthcare and family housing for terminally ill children.
The initiative was spearheaded by Monacqua’s founder, Geeta Kalwani, who said the idea was born from a desire to bring art into everyday life. “I believe that even the simplest moments of daily life can carry a quiet sense of delight when touched by literature, art, and culture. After all, a thing of beauty is a joy forever,” she said. After attending a lecture on George Condo in October 2024, Kalwani pitched the idea to the artist. “We could celebrate his retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (MAM) at the end of 2025 and pay a tribute to the noble work of the Princess Grace Foundation, both at once. The collaboration took shape very naturally from that moment on.”
Kalwani had earlier turned down a commercial advertising deal to preserve the integrity of the brand. “I was made a (very handsome) offer to use the bottles for some advertising. But diluting something I had built with such care and affection felt wrong. That’s when the idea came – why not carry art instead? Why not use the bottle to spread beauty, poetry, and culture – it’s the same as spreading joy!”
The creative process wasn’t without obstacles. Monacqua’s glass bottles use a sustainable flexographic printing method, which presented serious challenges when it came to reproducing the complexity of Condo’s work. “Our first proofs had to be discarded, and we had to rework the digital format of the artwork several times in order to get it right,” Kalwani said. “What touched me most about the process was the kindness shown by George and his entire team. For someone widely regarded as one of the greatest living contemporary artists, the warmth shown throughout has been remarkable. I am both honoured and humbled.”
Monacqua founder Geeta Kalwani
The final result is a vibrant, surrealist image described by Kalwani as “an interpretation of the Monaco woman: attractive, complex, and with eyes everywhere!” She added: “With her bold yellow tones and surreal, fragmented features, the work is joyful, mischievous, and deep. It’s unmistakably George Condo – inviting people to pause, reflect, and feel, even just for a moment.”
This is not Condo’s first creative outing in the Principality. In the 1990s, he collaborated with Jean-Christophe Maillot and the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, creating a stage curtain and later full set and costume designs for Opus 40. Most recently, his 2023 Humanoids exhibition at the Villa Paloma drew critical acclaim. A major retrospective of his career will open at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris in October 2025.
The collaboration also aligns with Monacqua’s broader brand ethos. Since its 2022 launch, the company has focused on reducing plastic waste by offering water in recyclable paper cartons and glass bottles. According to Monacqua, its operations could eliminate over one million plastic bottles from circulation annually by the end of 2025. The company is also a long-time partner of the Princess Grace Foundation, donating a portion of profits to help fund medical care for children.
Simon de Pury praised the partnership, calling it “symbolic of the love story between the artist and the Principality of Monaco.”
Kalwani, for her part, said: “Monacqua is my little modern-world contribution towards a greener, more sustainable Principality. After all, who better than a mother to understand the Earth, for we have both been incubators of life?”
