PARTNERS IN TIME
This past September, Gordon & MacPhail (G&M), the family-owned whisky company based in Elgin, Scotland, released a single malt Scotch whisky distilled in the 1940s. G&M’s Generations 80 Years Old from The Glenlivet Distillery is the oldest single malt Scotch whisky ever bottled. This being such a milestone, no ordinary bottle would do; nor would a fancy crystal decanter with a label embossed with ornate lettering. Such a momentous, record-setting occasion required an equally significant, impressive vessel. So, the team at G&M extended its reach far beyond the food and drink industry to tap a designer of a different sort, someone known for creating very grand works indeed.
An award-winning – and knighted – architect whose work includes countless homes, civic buildings, products, furniture, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, Sir David Adjaye OBE developed a magnificent decanter for G&M with a uniquely curved core. This unusual bottle is housed in a so-called ‘pavilion’, with sides made of oak slats that do tricks with the light reflecting off the bottle. The packaging has been designed to evoke sunlight filtering through trees in a forest, and the slats symbolise the all-important casks used to mature the whisky.
