Sk3d Limited25 Regent Terrace

EdinburghEH7 5BS

Contact: Richard Skakel+44 (0)7733 336677

+44 (0)131 622 7404

Distillery DevelopmentBRANDS AND VISITOR EXPERIENCE

about Sk3d

what we do

credentials

about Sk3d

Richard Skakel FCSD Sk3d produces sophisticated brand and cultural interiors. Our varied work includes premium visitor centres, brand experiences, corporate headquarters, museums and galleries, together with associated retail and hospitality components.

Following an early career in leading design industry roles I have returned to my creative roots and passions. Since 2010 Sk3d has worked closely with a handful of highly valued clients. I manage each project personally - forging a close partnership with clients and collegues, from creative and strategic planning into concept and detail design, through to installation and commissioning.

I am supported by an established team and network of exceptional creative and technical specialists under my direction. Flexibility in team building ensures that Sk3d is always configured and refreshed to best serve the style and scale of a given project. There is no set formula - greater adaptivity encourages original thinking and totally unique outcomes.

what we do

bringing stories and places to life - working with brands and cultural assets that are rooted in Scotland’s rich heritage

We produce beautifully crafted and expertly planned interiors. Our work is about communicating with consumers, visitors and guests, not just through the use of dynamic display and media design, also in every aspect of the setting and how it facilitates interaction between host and guests.

The conceptual plan for a distillery centred attraction is inspired by a bespoke approach to what visitors will see, do, feel and discover. A visitor’s ‘journey’ should unfold like a well told story. The style and visual language for the scheme as a whole should feel seamless and authentic - rooted in the essence of the place and brand.

Planning and designing award winning visitor environments over many years provides valuable insights about what inspires and engages an audience - while ensuring practicality and best commercial performance for the operator.

We understand that a distillery has so much more to do than being an efficient ‘whisky producer’ - It is the hub of a multi-layered business, and the heart and source of a brand.

what we do

setting off in the right direction Our core interior and media design work incorporates a strategic planning role. Working closely with our client from the inception stage of a project, we help assess and define development strategies from an operational management and visitor experience perspective.

The first, and most important steps, are assessment and conceptual planning tasks, from brand definition and story development to exploring ideas for presentational content and visitor activity areas, together with themed hospitality or retail facilities.

Schematic plans, once worked up in outline and visualised, are invaluable tools to model indicative production costs and assess capacity, configuration or qualitative options. A shared sense of the brand and vision for the visitor experience will emerge and take form. Designer and architect will ideally develop their proposals in parallel - making best opportunities and use of site / space through sharing a common functional overview and sense of brand style.

Co-ordinated early stage planning is essential for an effectively designed distillery and visitor facility, bringing a brand to life distinctively, generating valuable revenue and creating a powerful platform for future brand building.

Kingsbarns Distillery

Kingsbarns Company of Distillers

Kingsbarns is a new distillery close to St Andrews on Fife’s north east coast. The sensitively converted listed farm steading has a timeless charm, accentuated by leaving its internal structure and textures exposed, with subtle lighting to show off its moods and textures. Introducing a natural palette of rich oak and cool slate reflects the blue-grey and gold of Kingsbarns branding. An eclectic selection of antique and modern classic furnishings was sourced or commissioned to complete the scheme.

Sk3d colaborated with Breeze Creative to develop the branding and graphical storytelling. Bringing a brand to life as a whisky visitor attraction, even before the new make spirit is ready to bottle, presents a challenge common to all new whisky distilleries. The themes developed for Kingsbarns begin with sharing the journey ‘From Dream to Dram’ - the aspirations and vision of the founders, and their ‘work in progress’. As suggested by the name ‘Kingsbarns’ the royal heritage of The Kingdom of Fife and it’s cereal growing growing tradition is revealed. The significance of underground springs that once filled the farmer’s well, now supplying the distillery’s mineral rich water, is explored as a hallmark of the spirit’s character.

The story is expanded in layered graphic treatments, audiovisual display and through the sensory interactive ‘aromatron’ with its cow horn noseing flutes - a nod to former inhabitants! Two tasting rooms, a bar and a conservatory café, and a well stocked shop complement the exhibition and tour.

Brand Homes

Johnnie Walker Lagavulin Royal Lochnagar

The Scotch Whisky industry has long enjoyed an international reputation for the quality of its products. With provenance and sophistication underpinning brand values the right setting needs to be created in which to share a very special experience of hospitality and connoisseurship. We have created ‘Brand Homes’ at three distilleries, where trade customers and guests from around the globe enjoy unforgettable in-depth encounters with: Johnnie Walker, at Cardhu in Speyside; Lagavulin on the island of Islay; and a range of distillery malts at Royal Lochnagar’s ‘Malt Advocates’ training and hospitality facilities near Balmoral.

The Johnnie Walker brand dates back to1820. Its spiritual home has a Regency period office with an Arts & Crafts style library and dining room. Each book and artefact has been sourced and placed to be ‘discovered’ and tell a part of the ‘story’. The magnificent rooms set the mood for a suitably impressive encounter with the world’s leading Scotch. Royal Lochnagar’s rooms are on a much more intimate scale, its blue and gold interior associated with the Royal patronage of Queen Victoria. While at Lagavulin we have taken our style cues from an unpretentious Islay tradition, producing an informal trade counter and lounge where the occasional passing sailor can warm his or her feet at the peat fired stove - whilst enjoying a wee dram of course!

Ardbeg Distillery

The Glenmorangie Company

When Ardbeg, known as ‘the untamed spirit of Islay’, upgraded visitor facilities at its distillery in the southern tip of Islay, we produced a scheme that reflects the maverick quality of the brand. The bar area has hand painted signage, with the bar itself fashioned from a huge recycled oak beam. A long side wall is a blackboard inviting visitors’ graffiti. For VIP guests and members of the ‘Ardbeg Committee’ the Chairman’s Study offers an intimate hideaway tasting room .

The shop and café, set in the tall space of a former kiln, feature aged reclaimed oak and oxidised copper fitments. Architectural and theatre lighting is used to great effect, illuminating the whitewashed internal walls and the high pagoda roof, creating dramatic spaces in which many memorable tasting experiences and delicious lunches are enjoyed by visitors and guests.

Classic Malts Visitor Centres

Glenkinchie Dalwhinnie Oban

Visitor facilities used to be regarded by Diageo primarily as a marketing investment, but today those in accessible locations also contribute as independent profit centres. Glenkinchie near Edinburgh; Dalwhinnie in the Highlands; and Oban, on the West Coast, are all renowned Classic Malt distilleries in picturesque locations within easy reach of international and domestic visitors. Working with Diageo we created commercially viable attractions, which also remain hugely effective brand marketing vehicles, even many years after their opening.

The visitor experience is enhanced by carefully researched and planned exhibition and audiovisual installations, revealing how the regional character of a single malt is intimately connected with the local landscape and culture. The shop at each of the centres follows the theme, selling our client’s unparalleled range of whiskies in an authentic setting. All of the public spaces retain a sense of their former industrial use; reclaimed timber and natural stone are contrasted with areas of rich colour, moody lighting and high quality graphics.

By avoiding the clichéd palette of generic Scottish imagery, and using a bold and contemporary style, we pioneered a redefined the image of the product, appealing to an increasingly youthful and informed consumer.

The Glenmorangie Distillery

The Glenmorangie Company

Glenmorangie is renowned as one of the finest and most elegant highland single malt whiskies. Now part of LVMH, The Glenmorangie Company has grown its international standing in the luxury category and introduced a stunning portfolio of extra matured and private edition expressions.

Over two years Sk3d worked with Glenmorangie at Director and CEO level, resulting in a project by project transformation of the company’s image, including a new 12,000 sqft headquarters at The Cube in Edinburgh, complete with sensory laboratory, conference rooms and a cocktail bar.

The Glenmorangie Distillery visitor centre near Tain uses warm materials, natural textures and theatrical lighting - with lots of orange - to create a very atmospheric setting. Visitors can discover how the origins of the brand connect an ancient culture of Pictish craftsmanship and the living inspiration of the distiller’s art. HD film media and contemporary styled displays celebrate the history and present day life of the brand. Tasting rooms and retail areas have bespoke oak and steel furniture for exquisitely considered presentation.

Seaview Cottage @ Ardbeg

The Glenmorangie Company

Those wishing an even more immersive experience at Ardbeg Distillery on Islay can book a stay at the 3 bedroom Seaview Cottage. The Victorian building adjoining the manager’s house was virtually derelict, though it was possible to retain some of its original features and give it the full Ardbeg treatment. A new terrace was created to extend the first floor open plan living spaces, revealing a superb ‘sea view’ panorama. Visitors can dine here or just chill out with a dram or two and watch the sun go down.

Guests include many ‘Ardbeggian’ enthusiasts who appreciate the many quirky references to Ardbeg and Islay culture, including prints and paintings as well as an engaging collection of vintage artefacts and furnishings. The herringbone parquet oak flooring even follows the pattern of stacked peat. And after a hard day’s stroll on the hills or beaches you can stretch out in the glow of a pot bellied peat burning stove expertly made from a recycled gas cylinder and VW Beetle car parts.

Company HQ - The Cube

The Glenmorangie Company

The move to a new 12,000 sqft headquarters at The Cube in Edinburgh announced a change of culture that accompanied The Glenmorangie Company’s focus on the luxury brands marketplace with Glenmorangie and Ardbeg. The elegant executive offices and open plan workspace come complete with a sensory laboratory, conference rooms and a cocktail bar - If you own one of the worlds finest whisky brands why not have a bar at the centre of your offices - but then again it’s no ordinary bar! The sensory laboratory is the secret den of Dr Bill Lumsden. In this inner sanctuary, surrounded by hundreds of sample bottles, he does his magical work. In fact it’s so secret we that can’t print the photographs.

The level of theming is subtle and a selection of brand artefacts are displayed in a feature wall that bi-sects the upper level. Perhaps the Glenmorangie mantra ‘unnecessarily well made’ best sums up our approach. Ebonised and golden oak panelling with bespoke maple furnishings are set off by charcoal carpets and contrasting pale limestone. The ceilings are raised with shallow illuminated domes to punctuate the free flowing space. Occasional seating and workstation chairs are upholstered in deep red as a salute to the Company’s logotype.

Apart from transforming the image of the Company in the eyes of visitors, the setting brings vitality and a powerful sense of identity to the hard working teams based here - more than just a place of work.