On the 1st of October, The Famous Grouse revealed a dramatic and ground breaking kinetic sculpture at The Chapel, Shaftesbury Avenue, London. The eagerly anticipated masterpiece has been created through The Famous Collaboration: an original crowd sourcing project and arguably one of the world’s largest and innovative collaborations to date. 

Inspired by dreams and aspirations contributed by over 1,500 members of the global community, the sculpture creation was led by Marshmallow Laser Feast in conjunction with Studio Roso on the design of the sculpture and Ruairi Glynn on the kinetic and lighting elements. The total team consisted of 34 engineers and digital specialists, with thousands of submissions entered by people from Canada to Russia who participated by digitally answering the question “What would you like to be famous for?”

170 guests travelled to London from eight countries including Canada, Russia and Turkey to witness the unveiling of the sculpture and be part the unique experience. Figures from the worlds of art, design and technology toasted the reveal with classic serves of four of The Famous Grouse blends, alongside consumer competition winners who joined the global event signifying the importance of collaboration and inclusivity.

Guests interacted with the sculpture by standing in a ‘sweet spot’ that allowed each individual control over the robotic light, reactive to body movement, altering the entire spectacle of the sculpture and its surrounding area.

A diverse mix of musical talent (a violinist, a rock guitarist, a bag piper, a saxophonist and a singer) independently entertained the crowd and in the spirit of collaboration, joined to perform as a group in a stunning climax. A singer appeared from the crowd and encouraged guests to join in, creating a fun musical collaboration of over 100 voices.

The sculpture in numbers:

• 51,204 laser cut characters
• 1542 ambitions and dreams in textual form laser cut into the copper strips
• 62 copper strips forming a spiral shape inspired by whisky copper stills
• 17 days to build the sculpture in the Chapel
• Sculpture is just over 5m tall, just under 5m wide and weighs over 300kg
• Specialist lights and a robotic arm create the effect of revolving movement and cast reflections of moving text on the surrounding dark chapel walls

Asanka De Silva, Global Brand Controller for The Famous Grouse, said: “We are absolutely thrilled by the unprecedented level of responses we have had globally and the sculpture as a result.  We have built something that is unique and fantastic, that’s inspired by consumers and stands for what fame means to people today.  Any process of collaboration is a challenge and something that needs to be skilfully managed. We do this daily in our process of making The Famous Grouse. We believe that our experience stood us in excellent stead in delivering a collaboration of this scale, and it’s something we are immensely proud of.”

This first of its kind collaborative project, which launched in August, has seen over 20 countries participate resulting in thousands of responses from the evocative to the humorous.  Entries have come from as far and wide as Taiwan, Russia, Chile, Greece, Canada and Great Britain, to name a few. 

Following its reveal, the sculpture will travel back to Scotland, where it can be shared with future generations. www.somethingfamous.com

About The Famous Grouse

• The Famous Grouse is the no. 1 whisky in the UK and no. 4 blended whisky worldwide.
• The Famous Grouse is exported to over 100 countries.
• Created in 1896 by founder Matthew Gloag, it was originally called The Grouse Brand. The brand became so popular that on August 12th 1905 it was renamed The Famous Grouse.
• The Famous Grouse Experience is located at Scotland’s oldest working distillery – Glenturret. Originally established as a single malt distillery in 1775, today The Famous Grouse Experience is the most visited distillery in Scotland (www.thefamousgrouse.com/experience).