Creativity has been at the heart of Bombay Sapphire for over 30 years, championing creatives and supporting emerging artists all over the world. Its own distillery in Laverstoke is an architectural masterpiece created by one of the most imaginative architects, Thomas Heatherwick. The entire brand strategy is built around inspiring and enabling creativity in everyone. In the year that turned out to be devastating for the creative community, Bombay Sapphire wanted to show their support and demonstrate their belief that creativity is an essential part of being human, making us feel fulfilled and happy.

Creativity had been jeopardised in the wake of Covid. Galleries closed as they were not deemed ‘essential’, negatively impacting creative communities. But essential shops were allowed to open. So Bombay Sapphire turned The Design Museum into a supermarket, to reopen it despite pandemic restrictions. We collaborated with 10 emerging artists to turn essential items into artworks – from rice to loo roll, Bombay Sapphire gin, to fruit and veg. All at supermarket prices, making art accessible to all. Giving people their fix of creativity, and supporting artists, during the weekly shop. And all proceeds from sales go towards supporting artists, through the Design Museum’s new Emerging Artists’ Access Fund, supported by Bombay Sapphire – a ‘pay it forward’ scheme that gives up and coming artists and designers free access to Design Museum exhibitions, talks and events, including networking and mentoring events

Through a simple loophole, we found a way to reopen one of the most loved galleries in the world, The Design Museum, which had suffered a 92% drop in its usual income streams. Famed artist and designer Camille Walala brought her inimitable visual style to the store’s spatial design – bringing art and shopping together in a riot of bold patterns and bright colours. The essential items were designed by a collective of 10 brilliant emerging artists from all over the world: Joey Yu, Charlotte Edey, Kentaro Okawara, Katherine Plumb, Amy Worrall, Holly Warburton, Jess Warby, Michaela Yearwood-Dan and Isadora Lima. Each artist brought their signature style to the project to turn the likes of toilet paper and bread into artworks.