Balvenie Edition
Sent on behalf of Dario Franchitti
"Hi Roddy,
Throughout my career in motor racing, I’ve always held great
admiration for the craftspeople responsible for building—by hand—the
incredible cars I’ve had the great fortune to drive. Craftsmanship
(in all its forms) is a huge passion of mine and when I was asked to
curate the 2014 Rare Craft Collection by my friends at The Balvenie,
I couldn’t wait to get started.
During the selection process for this year’s Collection, I was
impressed by your work and would love to include one of your pieces
as a part of the twenty that will be showcased across America
between August and December this year. Now in its second year, the
Rare Craft Collection is a first-of-its-kind, gallery-style
exhibition featuring original works from some of America’s finest
craftspeople and in my opinion; you are among this esteemed group. "
I was flattered and honored to receive this invite to participate in
this year's Balvenie Rare Craft Collection.
After some conversations with the organizers of the collection I
decided to create a "One off" bagpipe specifically in honor of "The
Balvenie" and their dedication to fine craftsmanship.
Balvenie didn't give me many specifics other than using some of
their oak cask staves and brass metalwork. Brass is quite
appropriate since there's so much brass and copper around a
distillery, not to mention the gold color of the Balvenie itself!
I've based the pipes on my Antique Edition. So, the "barrel" shapes
on the drones use layers of the oak and African Blackwood to
simulate whiskey barrels complete with brass rivets.
The barrel theme is continued through all the drone sections and the
convex profile of the stocks.
The engraving is the Balvenie crest and Barley blowing on a rare,
warm summer Scottish morning!
I wanted to create a 19th century feel to the bagpipe, perhaps the
era when the most distinctive and beautiful bagpipes were being
made. So, I put a little more effort into making the projecting
mounts and drone caps more decorative than usual, with complex
curves and delicate beads and turned details.
Hopefully some will agree, a musical instrument can be a work of Art
also!
Only 10 of these sets will be made.
Mounted in Bronze $3500.00, mounted in sterling silver $6500.00