At the National Museum of China, you will find an exquisite piece of art from the 13th-century artist Chen Rong.
Named ‘Dragon amid Clouds’ it shows one of the earliest examples of the swirling dragon motif that adorns shrines, monasteries and ceramics in the East. A symbol of strength, nobility and fortune, this dragon has also inspired the second release from Kandoblanc, named Dragon in Clouds, which goes under the hammer at the Distillers One of One Auction on October 10.
The founder and creative driving force behind Kandoblanc is Dhavall Gandhi. He’s a man whose name should resonate with whisky lovers around the world. His drinks-making career has spanned the likes of Heineken, The Macallan and The Lakes Distillery. Among the accolades that followed, Gandhi has become known for his deft touch with a sherry cask, as well as pioneering the technique of elevage, moving whiskies between different cask types during the maturation process.
When it comes to Kandoblanc, however, he isn’t making the whisky but instead repositioning it. Inspired by Japanese aesthetics and philosophy, Gandhi launched his brand in 2023, an ambitious and industry-bending proposition which set out to unite art, culture and rare whisky through one-of-a-kind pieces that honor — and often safeguard — heritage crafts in a contemporary way.
The name combines ‘kando’, a Japanese term for the deep satisfaction felt when encountering exceptional beauty, and ‘blanc’, meaning white — a color that signifies perfection in Indian mythology, and a blank page, a symbol for each project’s ground-up vision.
“I wanted a platform for creative expression,” he explains of the project’s genesis. “A personal platform where I can start telling more stories that relate to more than just packaging or a whisky in a bottle… I wanted to bring more of the art, heritage and design worlds into the world of whisky.”
And he did just that with his debut piece, AGA, which was unveiled at the 2023 auction. The design melded Murano battuto glassmaking techniques with Japanese kintsugi and housed a blend of two whiskies from 1979. It sold for $54,000, the ninth highest out of the 36 lots and broke a world record for the most expensive whisky ever sold from a new brand.
High hopes, then, for Dragon in Clouds. Statuesque, textured, slightly ominous but almost unfathomable in its intricacy, it combines numerous heritage crafts that have been hand-selected by Gandhi to bring his idea to life.
Set within the philosophy of Yukari, which celebrates enlightenment, guardianship and legacy, several elements are brought together to create one distinct piece: an alkyl grade ceramic top, a handblown Murano glass magnum decanter made up of two fused pieces of glass, and a silk thread tie.
Alongside the work of Murano glassmakers Studio Venini and the ceramic makers, Dragon in Clouds is made up of three Japanese art forms. Urushi lacquer, made from resin from the urushi tree, is diligently applied to give the object its black, glossy finish, while togidashi maki-e, a painstaking technique of applying gold dust to a surface, is used to create the dragon. Hand-woven thread is made by a husband and wife in Kanazawa, which is dyed in a color created by algae and fungus on harvested wood.
These techniques are at grave risk of fading out, for reasons as simple as the rise of dishwashers. Urushi lacquer bowls, once a Japanese kitchen staple, are now largely ornamental. Togidashi maki-e survives through just a handful of artisans, as screen-printing has overtaken much of the field. They embody Gandhi’s mission to “celebrate superhuman craftsmanship,” and his investment in this piece offers crucial support, enabling, for instance, a togidashi maki-e master to take on an apprentice and keep the tradition alive for another generation.
Most of the auction lots will focus on the whisky and its associated brand, but Gandhi’s more democratic approach means that there is a softer focus on the liquid inside the decanter. “Whenever my name is associated, the whisky is going to be great,” he assures. “I’m not an independent bottler, I’m not a whisky distillery, I am trying to create an entire object that is completely in unison… No one part is bigger than the other.”
As such, Ghandi has decided against naming the distillery. What we do know is that it is a 60-year-old single malt Scotch whisky from Speyside. Gandhi wanted a feeling of elegance, restraint, a whisky that represented the dragon as a gentle and noble creature, rather than something aggressive and breathing fire. He steered away from anything too overpowering or heavily sherried, and instead towards something surprising and fruity. He looked at stocks from the 1950s and 1960s which, in Speyside at the time, had some smoky character, and selected something that despite its age has retained its softness and fruitiness.
This repositioning of the whisky is also a refreshing stance when it comes to collecting whisky. As each of Kandoblanc’s creations, including Dragon in Clouds, transitions through the years with a person, a family, and future generations, the whisky that is replenished in the decanter by the team will change too, dependent on its new custodian’s tastes. “I am not creating an object for collection, I’m creating them for a deeper, more meaningful connection.”
In the current luxury whisky market, it certainly feels like Gandhi is drawing a line in the sand with his approach. The pieces he and his craftspeople create are made not to be replicated tens or hundreds of times, but are by virtue of the skills, time and specificity needed only able to be made once, bought once, and by someone who feels a genuine connection to the piece and the story it tells.
It’s a testament to the resilience needed to hone and learn crafts that have been passed down through generations and are at risk of extinction, and a call to value them now and, through objects like Dragon in Clouds, for generations to come. “Other people are trying to sell a whisky. We are trying to sell a purpose.”
Update: Kandoblanc Dragon in Clouds sold for £106,250 ($140,000), above a high estimate of £100,000 ($130,000)
