Six unusual spirit bottles designed by architects and designers
Jeanne Gang is the latest architect to design a spirit bottle with her bronze-branched whisky bottle. Here, we round up six bottles designed by architects and designers including Frank Gehry, Philippe Starck and Marc Newson.
In recent years, leading architects and designers have been increasingly commissioned to design limited-edition bottles, often to mark brand milestones or special releases.
Alongside Gang's creation, included below are a trio of designs for cognac brand Hennessy from Gehry, Newson and Daniel Libeskind, a cage-covered bottle by Starck and a "terrarium of sorts" by Thomas Heatherwick.
The most exuberant bottle on our list was designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Gehry to mark the 150th anniversary of Hennessy's X.O cognac.
Designed to be unlike "anything people have seen before", the handcrafted piece was forged from 24-carat gold-dipped bronze.
"I wanted to personify the hand-made quality of Hennessy X.O with a hand-made bottle – one that feels good to hold, catches the light beautifully, and one that expresses the hand of the artisans who helped make the cognac," Gehry told Dezeen.
In stark contrast to Gehry, Newson created a stripped-back bottle with rippling ridges for Hennessy's X.O.
Newson aimed to simplify the brand's cognac bottle by removing its traditional grape and leaves motif, while maintaining its distinctive silhouette.
"My attempt was to make it more modern," said Newson. "As far as I am concerned, straight lines are a more modern interpretation of what was once there, which is to say grapes and vines and a more decorative application."
Bombay Sapphire by Thomas Heatherwick
British designer Thomas Heatherwick created a bottle with a cinched waist and a "terrarium of sorts" as part of a limited edition collection of sculptural bottles for gin brand Bombay Sapphire.
The bottle was designed to mark the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Heatherwick Studio-designed Bombay Sapphire distillery at Laverstoke Mill, which contains greenhouses for cultivating the botanical plant species used in the gin. To evoke this, the hourglass-shaped bottle includes a small glasshouse or terrarium.
"The inspiration for the distillery glasshouses came from historical glasshouses like the ones created by Victorians who grew plants in special terrariums," Heatherwick told Dezeen. "A decade later, the bottle has a connection to the distillery glasshouse."
Gordon & MacPhail 85 Years Old from Glenlivet Distillery by Jeanne Gang
Also informed by nature, Gang drew on the oak trees that are used to make whisky barrels for the design of a bottle for the world's oldest whisky. She wrapped the glass bottle in four bronze branches to create a "sense of protection".
"I thought about the way trees naturally shield things in nature, like nests, and wanted to design a vessel that shared this sense of protection," Gang told Dezeen.
"I drew four separate structures, like branches, that spiral upward and wrap around a suspended glass vessel, cradling the precious liquid inside."
Designer Stark also drew on themes of protection for a trio of bottles designed for whisky brand Mortlach, where he is creative director. Each of his bottles is wrapped in a 3D-printed "cage" designed to "protect" the spirit.
"The spirits we created turned out to be so innovative, that I didn't want to hide them," said Starck. "That is why the original bottle remains, and I just placed it in a cage."
Richard Hennessy by Daniel Libeskind
For his Hennessy bottle, designed for the brand's Richard Hennessy cognac, Libeskind designed an angular exterior form with an internal form reminiscent of a traditional cognac bottle.
"I am inspired by the interplay of history and the future – a particular magic happens when the two come together," said Libeskind.
"The inspiration for the decanter came from the powerful emblem of Richard Hennessy and symbol of the future of the brand," he continued. "I wanted to honour the history while elevating it."
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