How Scottish whisky brand The Dalmore redefines culture through art and design: its 3rd Luminary Series edition was unveiled at the 2025 Venice Biennale of Architecture, in partnership with V&A Dundee

South China Morning Post

14-05-2025

There's plenty to say about what it means to be cultured in this day and age – one of the few words in our modern vernacular which invites some debate depending on who you ask. Perhaps what comes to mind is less a description and more a feeling not too far off from the first sip of a cool glass of
aged and refined whisky – something which feels fresh and evocative, deeply personal and always thought-provoking.
For the previously uninitiated such as myself, entry into the world of whisky came naturally thanks to the cultural touchstone that is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, where Scottish whisky brand The Dalmore unveiled the third edition of its Luminary Series last week in partnership with V&A Dundee – Scotland's very first design museum and the first prestigious Victoria & Albert museum outside London.
The Dalmore unveiled the third edition of its Luminary Series in partnership with V&A Dundee. Photo: Handout
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Marking a marriage between whisky-making and taste-making, these releases are available exclusively as limited-edition collectibles and one-off versions made for auction. They are presented as luxurious art pieces co-created by the design luminaries of our time. Previous collaborators include legendary
Japanese architect Kengo Kuma , who designed the V&A Dundee, and protégé Maurizio Mucciola, along with Melodie Leung of
Zaha Hadid Architects , whose portfolio includes Hong Kong's very own Henderson Building. And in keeping with tradition, The Luminary 2025 Edition, The Rare – both whisky and accompanying sculpture – will also be auctioned at Sotheby's, this time in Hong Kong, on Friday, May 16, with all proceeds going to V&A Dundee.
The Dalmore event unveiling the third edition of its Luminary Series. Photo: Handout
In these capable hands, it's easy to see how The Dalmore aims to cultivate a more cultured world, one drink at a time. In its over 180 years of making whisky in the Scottish highlands, the brand has sought to challenge the conventions of its craft and bring new meaning to that tricky term. While some may call cultured a state of being, others a state of mind, the curated, complex tastes involved in bringing The Dalmore's latest release to life say something else entirely – to be cultured is less a choice and more a mandate to push the boundaries of what we think to be possible in today's climate, to pursue thoughtfulness in everything we do.
Ben Dobbin (right), with Maurizio Mucciola and Melodie Leung, The Dalmore's Luminary Series designers in previous years. Photo: Handout
That's precisely what Ben Dobbin, this year's luminary designer, had in mind when conceiving and developing the latest chapter of The Dalmore's ambitious arts and design project. Dobbin built his sculpture using the principles of tensegrity, which essentially boils down to finding structure through tension – a delicate balance which applies to many other disciplines beyond architecture, including human anatomy, art history and now, whisky-making.
Ben Dobbin's sculpture is built on the principle of tensegrity. Photo: Handout
'Taste and smell are really rooted in some of your earliest memories,' says Dobbin, who grew up around apples and whisky-infused desserts. Unsurprisingly, both played a huge role in formulating the 52-year-old single malt whisky that is the 2025 Edition of The Rare. It is the oldest of the brand's whiskies currently available for purchase and the oldest so far in the Luminary Series, which houses a blend of tastes and smells made possible only by its time spent maturing in exceptionally rare casks.
The aroma of warm spices like vanilla and cinnamon, which have become The Dalmore's signature, opens up to deeper tasting notes of baked brioche, apricots and apples. The strictly limited-edition collectible version of the whisky, aged 17 years but no less refined in its palette, offers a hint at what this singular whisky has to offer for non-auction prices.