Meet the design mastermind behind Glenfiddich 50 Year Old Simultaneous Time decanter

What drew you to design and architecture? 

Since young, I've always had an obsession about learning and understanding how things come together in harmony. At first, I was both fascinated and intrigued about the human body and form itself, so I had thought of becoming a doctor. As I grew older, that fascination skewed towards design, which made me realise that it was what I should be doing—creating my own forms and harmony that could be scaled down into small objects or scaled up into spaces which one could live in.

In high school, I started designing business cards, and album covers, as well as folding paper to form different pieces of furniture. I'll admit, some didn't turn out as good as it looked in my mind. Then a visit to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona opened my eyes. It was the first building that made proper use of digital manufacturing tools; being under that sculpted stone, I just knew I wanted to create new worlds which expands the imagination. That's when I decided to be an architect.

What are your inspiration when it comes to design?

My main influence is the data-driven forms that can be found in nature. I'm passionate about creating algorithms and modelling forms that not only represent nature but also abstract them into new creations that emerge between the natural and the artificial.

There are mathematical patterns present in all natural forms. Sometimes it is easy to identify, like the Fibonacci sequence in the Romanesco broccoli; other times, the patterns are much less obvious, which is why we do not fully understand why a tree grows in a specific shape, or how a flock of birds becomes almost a dynamic sculpture moving in one direction. Both examples, as with everything in nature, are driven by simple rules that make its shape evolve or its movement happen harmoniously.

Tell us about the design process for the Glenfiddich 50 Year Old Simultaneous Time

The Glenfiddich Time Re:Imagined series is a remarkable collection of single malt whiskies, and the rarest within this highly sought-after collection is the 50 Year Old.

The whisky is a stunning portrayal of Simultaneous Time, exploring the parallel and complex conditions and effects that have influenced this refined liquid. As a result, it was my mission to bring to life the articulation of time in a spectacular form, telling its stories using maverick and disruptive design techniques.

The decanter is inspired by natural processes such as crystallisation, in which environmental conditions evolve a shape from one form to another. It is as if the form that houses it emerges from the same nature, it crystallises in a shape that seems to have evolved together with the liquid itself, and has followed every one of the environmental changes over the years of maturity.