A soulful new installation by Ini Archibong raises spirits for visitors to a Hebridean island distillery

‘A gateway to magic’ is how Ini Archibong describes his striking new sculpture, which will welcome visitors to the Port Ellen whisky distillery, on the remote Hebridean island of Islay.

Raised in Pasadena, the Nigerian-American designer grew up fascinated by fantasy and folklore, losing himself in tales of Arthurian legends and Middle-earth mythology as a counter to his academic parents’ strict attitudes to religion, behaviour and education. That love of storytelling blossomed as he grew older, baffling his science-focused family as he trod a more creative route into the world of design. Storytelling remains at the heart of his process to this day, with the designer citing the likes of Joseph Campbell, Tadao Ando and Frank Lloyd Wright as influential narrators. ‘Story is everything,’ says Archibong.

Ini Archibong and Port Ellen: whisky, design and mythology

In terms of a good story, his pairing with Port Ellen seems like kismet. Archibong had previously collaborated with the distillery in 2022 on an artwork to be auctioned at Sotheby’s alongside a cask of rare 1979 whisky.

To celebrate its 200th anniversary this year, the distillery invited the designer to conceive the centrepiece of a new guest experience, the Atlas of Smoke, at its Port Ellen site. Its remote Scottish location is a siren song for Archibong – the island, often referred to as the Queen of the Hebrides, comes steeped in its own misty mythology, with tales of a black elf, kelpies and headless horsemen. It was also the medieval seat of power for the Lords of the Isles, the MacDonald clan, and the remnants of their presence, still visible at Loch Finlaggan, were a powerful trigger for the artwork’s final look.

And Port Ellen itself is imbued with a cracking backstory. Founded in 1825 but closed for more than four decades, this ‘ghost’ distillery recently reopened after the discovery that some of its single-malt casks left quietly maturing during the closure had turned into some seriously palate-blowing Scotch. With his love of fascinating narrative, folklore and the finer things (an obsession with beautifully designed objects extends far beyond the day job to clothing, watches, whisky), it’s no surprise that Archibong felt magically drawn to this project.

A blend of craft and history

The artwork was commissioned to tie in with the distillery’s mission to capture the distinctive peaty smokiness of Scotch whisky in solid form. The resulting sculpture, the largest Archibong has ever made, stands at 2.3m tall, and manages to look both monumentally statuesque and ethereally light.

This is largely because it is made entirely from vitrucell glass, a material created using a process developed by master Czech glassmakers Lhotsky Studio, who collaborated with Archibong on the piece. The cast glass technique, which produces a unique honeycomb-like structure, allows for an eyecatching interplay of light and form. For the piece, glass was slowly melted and cooled to create luminous amber bricks with a swirling smoke-like appearance and sporting layers that echo the aromas and flavours of Port Ellen whisky.

The sculpture’s patinated bronze plinth, inspired by Islay’s peaty contours, was crafted in France with the help of contemporary bronze artist Yannick Székany. Enchanted by the island’s mythology and the distillery’s history, Archibong envisioned the glass as a tableau ‘rising out of the murky bog, with the souls of the island being transformed into smoke, swirling inside and upwards’. In situ and backlit, the extraordinary piece is both impressive and mesmerising. 'Pieces like this are an opportunity to shock people into the state of the sublime,' notes the designer.

As the casks of slow-maturing Port Ellen Scotch began to develop a cult following, the decision was made to rebuild the distillery in contemporary form, adhering to a Scandinavian aesthetic that both suits its setting and presents a fittingly cosy environment for savouring the whisky’s intense flavours.

Even if you’re not much of a whisky drinker (like me), a flying visit on a small plane (also bringing Amazon parcels and weekly cheese orders for those who want something other than Cheddar) is more than worth it to enjoy one of the distillery’s range of tour options, which encompass a small-batch tea ceremony, an opportunity to draw directly from a historic cask, and a tasting of an experimental new-make batch. I was spirited away by the passions of the Port Ellen tour hosts, who attuned my palate to the amber nectar’s peaty smokiness, heavily imbued with notes of fruit and spices, conjuring up visions of autumn walks, crackling campfires, and Christmas.

Kiln Square, Port Ellen, Isle of Islay PA42 7AJ