Legendary Scotch whisky purveyors Ballentine’s are giving a visual overhaul to the iconic bottle for a limited edition offering with the help of renowned pop artist Joshua Vides.
The rectangular bottles, originally created to help hide them in briefcases during the Prohibition era, will be covered in Vides’ signature stark black-and-white pointillist design for this limited edition release. As part of this campaign, Vides will apply a similar aesthetic to a series of pop-up bars in cities around the world and will be creating a limited-edition briefcase and tumbler set as a call back to Ballentine’s contraband days.
“I’m more than excited to be working with Ballantine’s on my first official bottle,” Vides said, in a prepared statement. “From the jump the energy has been high and we’ve been able to organically create elements in this project from start to finish. I believe we share a similar drive and determination to create on our own terms. Do it yourself mentality till the wheels fall off.“
Ballentine’s marketing director Mathieu Deslandes shared in Vides’ excitement, adding, “Ballantine’s has such a rich heritage that we’ve been able to explore and elevate through our collaboration with Joshua. Our approach is very similar which has made the whole project as exciting as it had been collaborative. We are all about championing those who do things their own way as we do with Scotch – and Joshua does the same with his artwork. The limited editions are our most disruptive to date and we look forward to turning shelves black and white across the world.”
The Ballentine’s x Joshua Vides bottles are available now through UK and European retailers.
This collaboration with Vides is just one of several campaigns that Ballentine’s has been undertaking in recent years to stay tapped into a younger market. They are continuing their work with musical tastemakers Boiler Room with a performance broadcast featuring Brazilian artist Tássia Reis as well as a Mixmag-sponsored interview with Ukrainian techno DJ Nastia.