A GLASGOW-based interior designer has just completed work on a new visitor centre at Ireland’s Tullamore Dew distillery.
Surface-ID, best known for its work on venues like Glasgow’s Oran Mor, Grosvenor Cafe and The Ubiquitous Chip, was tasked by Wm Grant & Sons to create a home for the Irish whiskey in Co Offaly.
Award-winning designers Claire Kinna and Iain McArthur have recreated the whiskey making process in an interactive visitor experience that “explores all the senses”. The centre, which it’s hoped will attract 40,000 visitors a year, has more than 1800 whiskies on display in a three-storey gantry, with an entire floor dedicated to nosing and tasting.
The project, which marked Surface-ID’s first foray into visitor centres, was part of an overall 35 million investment in the Tullamore site, which brings a working distillery back to the town for the first time in 60 years.
“More and more, drinks companies are looking to create a visitor experience as part of their brand marketing,” Kinna said. “Design has always been an important way to communicate and translating this through a visitor attraction was an interesting challenge.”
