Part of a large new series for The Balvenie, considered "the most hand-crafted of single malts" thanks to natural alchemy and the centuries-old craftsmanship. I was approached by London agency Here Design to collaborate with the brand to bring their fabulous bottles of single malt whisky to life, through a series of handcrafted paper sets. For each set I was tasked with trying to convey the flavour profiles of each whisky in my layered style, as well as capturing the base honey flavour that runs through the whole series. For this I selected various flavour notes to bring to life in a graphic, abstract and expressive manner, playing with various stocks and papercraft techniques, as well as basing the design around organic flowing honey layers, with the increasing number of layers linking to the age of the whisky.

Once my initial sketches were approved the final designs were drawn up in Adobe Illustrator and then each layer of the design cutout of individual sheets of coloured paper, using a variety of stocks to add a nice range of tactile textures, adding to the handcrafted feel. The final sets were assembled in my studio using large sheets of foamboard to mount the layers and various flavour elements onto, helping to support the scene and allowing us to stand the layers at varying depths, bringing the sets to life with the whisky bottles sat on a concealed handmade plinth.

We then teamed up with the talented London-based photographer Mitch Payne to help capture the sets, working his lighting magic and adding a warm 'honey glow' to the scenes. The final images were retouched by The Forge.