Glenmorangie
GLENMORANGIE DR BILL LUMSDEN x AZUMA MAKOTO AGED 23 YEARS
- Packaging Design
- Spaces
- Comms
Glenmorangie wanted a steady hand to help arrange packaging design and retail concepts for a prestige release. We saw a way to bring its floral elegance to the fore.
THE CONTEXT
Glenmorangie’s appetite for category-shifting collaborations sets them apart from other whisky brands. Their collaboration with Japanese botanical sculptor Azuma Makoto in 2021 being a prime example. When they joined forces with Makoto for a second time on a prestige release, we were tasked again with creating the packaging design and visual world.
THE CHALLENGE
Our challenge was to take another intricate floral masterpiece – this time a 1.5 metre tall, living sculpture – and transform it into on-pack design. But how do you capture the essence of a living sculpture in two dimensions?
Azuma’s previous Dancing Florals of Glenmorangie was inspired by the flavour notes of 18 Year Old whisky. This new piece was a deeper meditation on Director of Whisky Creation Dr Bill Lumsden’s 23 Year Old distillation.
Both whisky maker and master artist had found common ground in the concept of a multilayered, ever-changing ecosystem. Inspired by the hand-selected malt, Azuma’s botanical sculpture draws parallels between the whisky and the Japanese notion of ‘shinra bansho’ (meaning ‘everything in nature’). Migrating the idea from root to tip onto pack would take everything in our creative toolkit: colour, finishes, and detailing.
OUR RESPONSE
Woven into Makoto’s artwork are all the botanicals showcased in Dr Bill’s creation. Given such a vibrant, bustling display, we grounded the design of the secondary pack on a simple wooden trunk, letting the florals flow around the cylindrical case. For the bottle, we printed directly onto the glass to add a pleasing tactility and contrast with the liquid inside. On the closure, we used the Glenmorangie brand copper to match the fastening plugs on the case and signal the product’s elevated placement within prestige.
GIVING IT FLOWERS
Faced with such a heady (and earthy) visual concept, we had to find a unique way to do it justice in retail. Truth was, we were never going to replicate the living, breathing mastery of Azuma’s original organic opus using fake flowers and props, so we went digital. Our sleek visual merchandising solution saw the individual flavour notes – the same eight botanicals featured into the main design – displayed on simple glass panels.
