Chivas 18 Alchemy blends together monoscenic narratives of the five savants, each with an idiosyncratic luxe expressionism. By Devi Singh
Thinking with the sensesIJ The unfettered imagination, vision beyond any tangibility and a deepened interpretation which it brings along is something which the barriers of the eye can’t meet alone. We came in contact with such specious spectacles at the glitzy Saturday night affair at The leela Palace raising a toast to the sublime transformations by the alchemists for the evening, designer Ashish N Soni, luxurista and entrepreneur Kalyani Chawla, fashion and lifestyle connoisseur Sunil Sethi, curator and interior designer Sussanne Khan and fashion and luxury writer Vinod Nair playing the perfect hosts to the capital’s well-heeled with their signature illusions.
The different strokes by these different folks were indeed inspired by the notes of the Chivas 18 blend. Each maven played with a sense, crafting a different sensorial experience for the gazers to appreciate. And each experience took its inspiration from the 85 notes of Chivas 18. “Our alchemists are personalities who have excelled in their craft and have a flair for everything luxurious and definitive,” said Raja Banerji, Assistant Vice President at Pernod Ricard India.
“I have worked with Chivas even in the past on various platforms especially on the 18..so we go together real far. The “Alchemy” concept was brought in by them as they wanted to do something with the senses. I pondered over for long as to how to go about the idea when they first approached me for the project,” added Ashish. The splendid frill in the evening was marked with regular tinkling of the glasses to the lively chatter and some turgid pop music. Each curator also created a concoction mixed with the much in demand snifter. We tasted, sampled, touched, heard and soaked in these very sensory plays and delights. Makes perfect sense.
Gourmand’s delight Sense of sight curated by Kalyani Chawla
A sumptuous feast for the appetite scoring high on the visual appeal greeted us when we visited the concept of taste. The banquet table was laid out with variety of bites and grub, morsels dropped from the mouth, bitten apples, delightful half-melted candles, fresh white lilies, glittering chandelier, cutlery placed in helter-skelter, lip-stained serviettes, a fork dug into crème brulee, torn-off gobbets of baguette scattered all over the place reminding of a hurried, half-left, half-eaten meal. Kalyani did create an imposing imagery through a lavish looking spread inherently a sit-down in her line of silverware paired with whisky of course. A squandered night maybe. “The idea behind the presentation is the morning after the night before. It’s a night full of revelry with basically home line with elements of Chivas 18 thrown in. The patterns on the decanter to the mobile bar to the glasses are all done on the Chivas 18 model,” Kalyani told us. There were plenty of interesting tea and coffee pots, cigar boxes, ashtrays which she wanted to showcase from her vast range of home products. On playing with the sense of sight she said, “I feel we are truly blessed to have sight and enjoy the visual pleasures of the world. It’s God’s best gift to us.”
The perfume story Sense of smell curated by Ashish N Soni
The otherwise muted midnight blue wall was adorned with the deconstruction of the Chivas 18 with 84 ingredients in dainty little jars from hazelnut to cinnamon to vanilla; the very smells and tastes which go in the making of Chivas 18. The 85th note is the smoke which couldn’t be captured in a jar, so we thought. “Smell for me has been a childhood favourite. And I love perfumes for as long as I can remember. When you sniff a whisky, the kind of smells you get is what the idea behind this very concept is. I might get a different smell than you.” Ashish even endorsed the fragrances curated by him by wearing the smoky and woody 18/70 which he preferred over the three. We lost our heart to the more citrusy 18/60 though. “I went to three different perfumers in the UK to create these unique fragrances. The first one is a bespoke perfumer, the second is the oldest perfumery in England called Floris which also is the official perfumery to the British monarchy and the third being Bloom, more avant-garde in approach with lesser rules and more radical notes,” he explained.
On the country road Sense of touch curated by Sussanne Khan
Popping up her concept area with herbage and greens, Sussanne was rather inspired by the sylvan charms of the Scottish countryside. Pronounced hints of leather and stone added enough doses of antiquated glamour and character from a crystal-cut skull, an old-style wood cabinet, plush chesterfield, a tub filled with bottles of Chivas and smoked barrels, all marking up her idea of Chivas 18. “It was very educational for me for I never knew there were so many ingredients that go in the making of Chivas 18. The diversity of it all for a single product really inspired me. For a product which has a lot of history I have chosen objects with an old-fangled appeal. “When I got the sense of touch I was very happy, I wanted all the textures to come alive. I wanted to recreate the landscape of Scottish highlands. It’s basically putting together various things which would make people happy even without being intoxicated,” she told us.
In high spirits Sense of taste curated by Sunil Sethi
The always and highly spirited Sunil decided to play with the sense of taste with but of course spirits. Inspired by the notes and flavours in the Chivas 18 he turned his side of area into a space for the night’s gaiety where the guests got a chance to try the five cocktails created by the five connoisseurs. His sense of taste took shape of a bar adorned with wood and directional metal panels with ingredients like ginger, cloves, cinnamon to name a few adding a good cheer of hyggae to the otherwise spiffy bar. The multi-layered whisky indeed got a multi-dimensional personality to bring out its character well.
Photos: Pankaj Kumar