The Glenlivet Whisky Visitor Centre

Glenlivet, UK

Inspired by the legendary hospitality of its founder, George Smith, as well as its remote glen location, the Glenlivet visitor centre boasts a new look after undergoing 18 months of extensive renovations.

With the intention of carrying out the renovations needed for a project of this magnitute Glenlivet contacted Shoreditch based Designers Blacksheep to assist in achieving their vision of opening up the world of whisky to a new generation.

The revamped centre includes an indoor field of barley, harvested and preserved at one of the local farms that supplies the distillery, a chandelier made from local dried flowers, a mosaic floor designed by Scottish cermics artist Helen Miles and completely transformed interiors using the predominant natural colours of the Glenlivet Estate.

For the Speyside Room, lighting designers Into Lighting contracted UFO to manufacture and install the fibre optics for their stunning feature. Into used real dried barley to create the appearance of a living field of barley. UFO P4 pavers were installed amongst the barley stalks to illuminate the plants and reveal their rish golden colour. The lighting feature helps add to the authenticity of the brand that Glenlivet represent and with barley being a key ingredient in the whisky making process it is the perfect fit.

An important factor in the installation and design process was ensuring that the fibre was able to reach all areas of the room whilst being connected to the light source whch was installed on the back of the wall.This provided several hurdles such as the delicacy of the materials being used, the fire hazards involved and the mixture of barley, light sources and alcohol in the same vicinity.

For this project we specified the Quasar LED light source. This unit offers extremely high powered light output and full DMX, 0-10V, 1-10V, manual control and DALI which make this an LED light source unparalled in its light output and control capabilities. The twinkle effect provided by the light source gives the whole installation a feeling of motion and made the barkey field look even more authentic.

Images courtesy of John Paul Photography. Lighting Design by Into Lighting and Blacksheep.