Eden Mill — Art of St Andrews

Gold Award

Images

Videos

Direct link: https://vimeo.com/933728706

Direct link: https://vimeo.com/933728363

Category

Packaging

Company

Tangent

Client

Eden Mill

Summary

The Art of St Andrews

Every year, St Andrews-based distillery Eden Mill releases a new single malt whisky in collaboration with a local artist who creates a bespoke piece of art to complement the liquid – a curation of craft and creativity which marks the distillery’s most exclusive product.

The series emerged from a conversation between ourselves and the client about how they could increase the value of their headline product. With the company so rooted in its locale, we suggested a limited-run collaboration, bringing artists connected to St Andrews together with the distiller.

With each new release in the series Head distiller Scott Ferguson begins with whisky he set down years ago, experimenting with flavour interactions, and layering new finishes to complete a process which takes years to perfect. It’s an inherently creative process, which eventually elicits emotional responses to the finished product in the same way a work of art can.

This year, we engaged Jill Calder, an award-winning Fife-based illustrator and calligrapher. Jill is renowned for crafting beautiful art pieces driven by her skill in the layering of colour and illustration. Guided by Scott, Jill explored every corner of St Andrews, a town filled with hidden stories, dramatic vistas, thrilling history and stunning nature — from the Eden estuary to the lively town centre, the incredible coastline, and finally, the taste of the town in the form of Eden Mill’s whisky.

As Scott and Jill discussed their inspirations, a clear connection emerged. Scott’s approach to creating complex, deep flavours through a variety of ingredients and methods chimed with Jill’s own layered, surprising artworks, which reveal more and more detail with each glimpse. ‘Look closer, discover more’ became the driving concept, emerging from their experience of the town and underpinning both the whisky and the artwork.

Like the whisky, Jill’s art style is complex and multi-layered. Making textures by hand, she incorporated elements that represented the smoky notes of the whisky and the earthiness of the liquid, and layered them with illustrated local animals, people, places and even the brand new distillery — bringing St Andrews itself to vivid life on the product.

We worked with director Nick Afchain and videographer Gavin White to create a promotional video for the release which captured the stunning setting of St Andrews and the new distillery, and a conversation between artist and distiller on their shared inspirations and their creative processes.

Links

https://www.edenmill.com/