Ballantine's collaborates with artist Joshua Vides on Finest bottle design

Ballantine's has teamed up with artist Joshua Vides to bring his signature black and white touch to its new limited edition.

The Scotch whisky brand invited Vides to reinterpret its Finest bottle and gift tin, as well as elements of the brand's legacy. The California-based creative is known for his comic book-style transformations of objects and spaces with hand-drawn illustrations and bold linework, which Ballantine's felt embodied its own spirit of originality and forging your own path.

In his reimagining of the Finest bottle, Vides took inspiration from the story behind the rectangular Ballantine's bottle, which was designed to be concealed in briefcases to work around Prohibition laws in the 1920s. As well as reworking the bottle, he has also designed a one-of-a-kind briefcase.

To further celebrate the launch, Vides will be creating a series of black and white pop-up bar spaces in locations from Poland to China at the start of next year, with programmes of exclusive events and workshops. 

Of the collaboration, Vides said: "I'm more than excited to be working with Ballantine's on my first official bottle. 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."

Ballantine's marketing director Mathieu Deslandes said: "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 has 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."

7 December 2020 - Bethany Whymark