The Balvenie and Samuel Ross Make It Rain (Literally) at Milan Design Week

Every brand has a story to tell. And if they’re lucky, there are many stories. 

So, when the minds behind the Scottish single-malt legend The Balvenie (founded in 1887) considered how to open a new chapter about their distinguished spirits—including introducing the second expression of its Balvenie Fifty Collection—they turned to Samuel Ross. 

For the uninitiated, Ross is one of those multihyphenate creators who seems to churn out culture-changing ideas while brushing his teeth. The 33-year-old designer has received multiple honors, including three British Fashion Awards, the Hublot Design Prize and two honorary doctorates. His work ranges from solo exhibitions at White Cube and Friedman Benda to wearable designs for LVMH, NIKE and Apple, with pieces held in the permanent collections of the Met and the V&A. He’s the co-founder with Yi Ng of SR_A, whose mission is an artisan-driven, industrial beautification of garments, objects and space.

What was his paradigm-shifting, site-specific vision for Design Week and The Balvenie? 

As American and European journalists filed into the Historic Foundry in Milan’s Isola District to get our first peek, I’m sure no one expected what awaited us in the ancient building: a colossus of ambition, beauty and meaning titled TRANSPOSITION.  

In short, Ross made it rain indoors. And it was among the most incredible things anyone witnessed in Milan this year.

Three imposing towers constructed from copper-painted steel pipes continuously poured water from a platform at the top of the tower (think of it as a massive square showerhead). They delivered 14 liters of water per second in each vertical river—mimicking the River Fiddich that runs through Dufftown, The Balvenie’s home. 

The imposing copper frames nod to The Balvenie’s distillation process, drawing from industrial materials and brutalist forms that echo the architecture of its storied distillery. Their weight and structure contrast the surrounding choreography of mist, light and sound. This dynamic interplay evokes The Balvenie Fifty Collection’s slow, transformative journey as it matures over half a century.

Mind-blowing is overused these days to describe things that are different and sublime, but TRANSPOSITION falls squarely in this lofty realm. 

The same can be said for the Fifty Collection and the joy of tasting first two releases in a single evening during an unforgettable dinner at the Foundry. (I know, I know—I’m lucky as hell.) The collection unfolds in a trilogy of rare releases, each building upon the last in depth and complexity. Each release will produce 125 bottles worldwide. 

Edition One, unveiled in summer 2024, is a singular expression drawn from a European Oak Refill Butt filled in 1973—personally selected by Malt Master Kelsey McKechnie. For Edition Two, released this year, McKechnie introduces an additional cask: an American Oak Hogshead, also filled in 1973, allowing the two to marry in harmony.

After my first peek at the installation, I interviewed Ross one-on-one at the Hotel Principe Di Savoia. Here, he discusses everything from his a-ha moment to his goals of artistic engagement.

The installation is so different from anything you’ve ever created. Was it intimidating? 

When it comes to heritage, craft and legacy, being a relatively young designer, there is this deep care and pressure when you get handed the keys to an estate such as The Balvenie. What struck me after spending time at Dufftown was learning about the inception of the whisky itself.

How much time did you spend there? 

I spent about four days with the artisans within the distillation atelier. They deliver such a complex profile to the whisky that I wanted to expand and build a world around the idea of alchemy, to a degree, scooping up the water from the well, putting it through the distillation process, placing it into this incredible brass and bronze still, and then allowing the water to churn and turn into this liquid nectar. 

This was your a-ha moment? 

Yes. I wanted to build upon the process, which is why you have these different towers and pillars within the artistic installation—three pillars representing three stages.

The calming nature of this installation struck me. The sound is soothing, and I also felt the flow of the water. When did you hatch your design? 

As soon as I arrived at the estate and saw the landscape. It was my first time in Scotland. The place is enigmatic and moving—it hit me. 

My mind switched on, and the pens and charcoal sketches began. From there, I found beauty in raw industrial languages. We tried to capture craft and harmony with the raw scaffolding.

So, the feeling of your work is everything? 

We do these incredible runways worldwide, and this placement between a runway and the work I share with the Met or White Cube is always about performance and emotion. We can have all the context in the world, but it’s truly about how you feel when you enter that space. 

My job as an artist is to move people’s hearts first, especially when discussing physical space. There must be enough pull on the heart for people to enter through that door. And that’s what we do: through the sound, through the temperature drop, through the motion in the theater of the water, and through the scale for the use of color. 

It’s all about the physical experience of art.

I slipped into the Foundry, stood in a corner, and watched people enter the building and engage with TRANSPOSITION for the first time. Their jaws dropped, but there was also this sense of calm.  

Yes, this piece is all about respite. Consider the context in which whiskey exists and what it means to have a fantastic whisky tasting—that moment of peace and privacy. 

With TRANSPOSITION, we wanted to offer something new here at Design Week—a moment of peace and calm among the anarchy in the most authentic way possible.

Were you ever concerned that your sketches for TRANSPOSITION wouldn’t work logistically? 

I’m fortunate that, within our studio, SR_A, we have brilliant people who understand structural engineering. 

So there’s always that healthy back-and-forth, which is the hallmark of any good partnership. It doesn’t matter if I’m designing headphones with Apple, sneakers with Nike or watches with Hublot; there always has to be tension between two great parties who understand their brands so well. They need to defend that and find a solid middle ground. 

If there’s no pushback, I get very alarmed [laughs]. 

Were you intimidated by the scale of this project? 

I prefer to play with scale. I like the idea of making a dent in this sector, in this industry and living at that crossroads between art, design and culture. I can define that for a generation, which means scale. 

What was The Balvenie team’s reaction when you first showed it to your idea?

There was wonderment. There was a bit of silence on the call, which is good because they got it. 

Gradually, with the support of the teams on both sides, you can take a single idea and build it into a much more mature prospect. Giving enough people space to contribute is also a huge part of being an artist and a designer. It’s not just one vision. It’s a cohesive vision.

Every great conversation has layers of dynamism; we had that healthily across both parties. We pushed one another. I’m incredibly happy with the artistic expression we’ve been able to articulate.