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4 June, 2025
Venice Biennale's Luminary 2025 Edition Exhibition
Created in collaboration with V&A Dundee and Foster + Partners architects, the Luminary 2025 Edition Exhibition from the 2025 Venice Biennale is now available to experience online.
In partnership with V&A Dundee, Scotland’s design museum, the Luminary Series has commissioned three unique sculptures to display limited-edition whiskies created by Master Whisky Maker Gregg Glass, Master Distiller Richard Paterson OBE and our architectural luminaries.
The latest Luminary sculpture is designed by Ben Dobbin, Senior Partner at Foster + Partners, to house the magnificent Rare whisky.
In 2023 Dobbin visited The Dalmore distillery in the Scottish Highlands where he learned about the factors that contribute to the single malt’s distinctive taste.
On the early morning journey back to Edinburgh, Dobbin asked the driver to stop as the rising sun revealed the sculptural form of a hill in the distance. He thought about how the hills surrounding Loch Morie, The Dalmore's water source create a natural cradle for the water.
This became the starting point for his design.
As architects, we often discuss physical sensations such as light, touch, movement, and temperature, but rarely taste and aroma. I was excited to translate those sensations into sculptural form.
The Rare sculpture is an exploration of topography, tension and taste, elevating and encircling the whisky decanter. Made by master craftsman John Galvin, it is surprisingly light, using blackened bronze for the outer rim, brass for the rods and Scottish oak for the central platform.
The sculpture is the result of an iterative design process. Sketches, technical drawings and prototype models reveal how Dobbin and his team experimented with form. His early sketches led to a balanced design based on three peaks, which he later stretched to create more verticality. As he explored the idea of tension, the mesh-like topographical lines of his early drawings became straight rods reaching between arches.
The Highlands’ topography inspired me with its rising forms, reflecting the layers of flavour in The Dalmore. These gently sculpted forms shelter pockets of snow, corries, and the Loch that provides water for the distillery.
Beyond the landscape, Dobbin drew upon other Scottish touchpoints, such as the iconic Forth Bridge, which he had studied as an undergraduate in Edinburgh, as well as a suspension footbridge in Inverness, which he admired for its lightness. He thought about the tension created by the strings of a harp and also the way industrial looms draw down different coloured threads to create a weave.
Like the threads on a loom or the whisky’s bold and complex cask maturation process, the sculpture draws down all these influences and experiences into one compelling object.
My design evolved around hills cradling the whisky, creating a landscape of the senses. This became a structural idea that elevated the decanter at its centre, with radiating structures that connect the landscape to the whisky itself".
Members of The Dalmore Guild enjoyed exclusive early access to purchase The Luminary No.3 - 2025 Edition - The Collectible in May 2025. Join The Dalmore Guild to hear more about our prestigious
whisky releases and upcoming events.
