glenfiddich barrel art by johnson banks

1996 – ‘for 12 years my flavour will grow and grow’

glenfiddich barrel art exhibition

for this year’s ‘barrel art’ initiative glenfiddich whisky asked the london-based design consultancy johnson banks to interpret the length of time it takes for glenfiddich single malt whisky to mature in barrels. michael johnson and his team decided to focus on the ‘jobs’ that each part of the barrel have to do over the different lengths of time the five different whiskies mature. the shortest length of time whisky is in a barrel is 12 years, the longest is 30. the 5 finished works will be exhibited at the studio warehouse gallery in glasgow from the 24th – 27th november.

this piece is based on the idea of a tree cross section, is made from 6 separate barrels and weighs a quarter of a ton.

1993 – ‘we will stand guard for 15 years’, 32 staves of a barrel and sand blasts type out of their charred surface.

1990 – ‘our bond is unbroken for 18 years’, an ‘impossible’ barrel is made out of…

rusted barrel hoops.

1987 – ‘for 21 years we take a share’, over the course of 21 years, nearly half a barrel of liquid will evaporate. legend has it that this is the ‘angel’s share’.

this piece explores that with type chopped out of the top of a barrel.

the letters cut from the barrel spell ‘for 21 years we take a share’.

1978 – ‘I will wait for 11,000 nights – I will wait for 11,000 days’, the whisky that takes longest to mature, the 30 years, is represented by the moon and the sun etched and charred onto the lid of a barrel.the project’s development has been recorded on the johnson banks blog, thought for the week here’s an early example and a more recent post.

more johnson banks: http://www.johnsonbanks.co.uk glenfiddich barrel art exhibition: http://uk.glenfiddich.com/every-year-counts