We partnered with The Balvenie and renowned artist and designer Dr. Samuel Ross MBE to create TRANSPOSITION – an immersive, multi-sensory sculptural environment launching The Balvenie Fifty Collection at Milan Design Week 2025.
Set in the atmospheric Old Foundry in Isola, Milan, TRANSPOSITION is a bold reinterpretation of the hospitality experience, merging industrial craftsmanship with the natural world. This site specific work, developed in collaboration with Samuel Ross’ atelier, SR_A, and The Balvenie, celebrates the brand’s deep-rooted commitment to craft, its alchemic production and innovation.
The sculptural environment forms part of Interwoven Stories, a wider campaign honouring The Balvenie 50 Collection. The imposing copper frames are a direct reference to The Balvenie’s distillation techniques, incorporating industrial materials and brutalist forms that echo the distillery’s architecture. Along with light, shadow, and sound, TRANSPOSITION brings to life the interwoven stories of craft and community that are at the heart of The Balvenie and aims to break through the romanticised tropes of whisky, merging craft, the natural world and the industrial, offering a fully sensorial hospitality experience. At its centre, a bespoke bar exclusively offers a menu of The Balvenie curated serves, enhanced by carefully curated glassware, designed to personalise each guest’s journey through taste and environment.
Imagination played a pivotal role in shaping this project from its inception, having worked with The Balvenie to define the initial creative brief that led to the selection of Samuel Ross as the campaign’s creative partner. Imagination has brought TRANSPOSITION to life, ensuring that every detail aligns with the brand’s legacy and future-forward vision.
TRANSPOSITION is a collision between two worlds. Between the elements and the man made. Between craft and industry. The works, and sculptural environment of TRANSPOSITION, will change your relationship with what you are tasting on site.
Dr Samuel Ross MBE
Ross Wheeler, Business Director & Head of Live at Imagination, said: “Through TRANSPOSITION, we’ve created a unique sensory experience that not only showcases The Balvenie’s craftsmanship but also redefines hospitality within the design sphere. Our collaboration with Samuel Ross and The Balvenie has resulted in an installation that is both thought-provoking and deeply immersive.”
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December 11, 2024