oskar zieta: ballantine’s 12 bar

‘ballantine’s 12’ by oskar zieta, london, england images courtesy of oskar zieta

designboom is currently in warsaw, poland where designer oskar zieta has created ‘ballantine’s 12’, a steel bar that looks like a pile of melting ice cubes. specifically designed for ballantine’s anniversary event at nettie horn gallery in london, the piece aims to unite the studio’s unique design language with ideas that are inherent to the whiskey brand.

by experimenting with the same complex process of his previous work, zieta was able to reverse the typical method of inflation – seen his previous fidu bench – and implode the material by literally melting the steel. each stabilized block is heated to over 700 degrees then suddenly cooled down to fix the organic and individual shape in to place.

detail

the reflective cubes which are stacked together to create a circular bar, absorb and reflect the surrounding environment, constantly changing in its appearance and visually distorting everything that encompasses it. 

overall bar

detail

construction process

welding

welding

designer oskar zieta imploding a steel cube

concept sketch of inflation and whiskey production process

concept sketch of bar

melting steel bar for Ballantine’s 12 from Zieta on Vimeo.