Adjaye designed a unique jewel-like decanter and oak pavilion designed to celebrate Gordon & MacPhail’s release of the oldest single malt Scotch ever bottled – Generations 80YO from Glenlivet Distillery.  Principles of precision and an exploration into materiality were key to unlocking a design for the case and decanter that would meet the same standards of the product itself.  The jewel-like decanter contains lenses to provide focus on the richly coloured liquid. A generous volume of crystal balances both heft and delicacy whilst providing a beguiling, tactile presence.

Designed to appear as hewn from a single solid block of crystal, the decanter’s curving core needed to be individually hand-blown by experienced artisans overseen by Glencairn Crystal Studio, experts in ultra-premium decanters and another family business based in Scotland.

The oak pavilion is constructed from sustainably sourced oaks grown less than five miles from makers, Wardour Workshops in Dorset, South West England. The ambition of the design was to cultivate a multisensory moment in which the process of relishing in the whisky begins at the encounter of its artisanal mastery.