Dhavall Gandhi fuses art and rare whisky
Former Lakes and Macallan whisky maker Dhavall Gandhi discusses how future releases from his Kandoblanc brand will preserve one-off art pieces with decades-old liquid.
Gandhi, former master distiller of English producer The Lakes Distillery, launched his own whisky brand in 2023 under the Kandoblanc name.
Now, Gandhi has revealed his latest bottling for this year’s Distillers One of One auction on 10 October – the Dragon in Clouds whisky.
Explaining the decision to launch his own brand, Gandhi said it was born from a “desire for creative expression”, adding that he has “always been drawn to heritage craft and arts”.
Gandhi explains that in India, where he has family, he has met many artisans and noticed a “trend of art forms being lost forever”.
This prompted the idea for Kandoblanc, which is a portmanteau of the Japanese word ‘kando’, which evokes the enjoyment of creativity, and the French word ‘blanc’ for white, to connotate purity.
“I needed to do something about it,” he says. “How can I holistically play a role in creating a whisky, not only from a liquid perspective, but from a storytelling and design perspective.”
Each whisky launched by Kandoblanc is housed in a one-of-a-kind vessel, with Gandhi noting a focus on Scotch whisky.
His latest release, Dragon in Clouds, is a 60-year-old single malt sourced from an undisclosed Speyside distillery.
One-of-a-kind releases
Every year the plan is to launch different thematic collections, he notes, with the latest three-strong Yukari range (which Gandhi says is based on “deep connections”) inspired by Japanese art forms.
“These are objects never to be repeated. I want to be clear; I’m not trying to create something for the sake of exclusivity. All of these objects are art forms – real artists work on this object.”
Gandhi acts as both the artistic director who curates the collection and the whisky maker.
His role is to “find out what whisky will give a style that will allow me to tell the story [of the art form] in a holistic matter”.
For example, he says if there is a “textural quality in an artform” then he will “look for whisky with more texture”.
The first whisky from the brand, Aga, was unveiled at the Distillers One of One auction in partnership with Sotheby’s in October 2023. Aga was a combination of kintsugi and ceramics.
With the creation of Aga, Gandhi blended two whiskies that were distilled in 1979, resulting in a “whisky with lots of textural qualities”.
The first was a ‘delicate and refined’ Speyside malt that was chosen to contribute to the liquid’s ‘finesse’, and the second was a ‘flamboyant’ Highland malt, picked to bring poise and texture to create ‘the ultimate cuvée’.
“I’m not tied to a style of whisky,” he adds, explaining that the aim is to launch “singular objects, with whiskies that are equally rare”.
“Kandoblanc is using whisky as a medium for expression and trying to talk to different art forms. We are trying to take whisky to a different audience. That’s a big opportunity to tap into – how do we bring other people around the world who are interested in different things into the world of whisky? You don’t need to be a geek to enjoy it.”
For Kandoblanc, the focus is on “significantly older liquid that is decades-old”. But he emphasises that these are “not tied to a certain age, it just needs to make sense”.
Aga was named after Gandhi’s son while ’79’ is a “personal number that is close to me and my wife”, he says.
He explains that the process of creating new expressions, combined with the art form, can “take anywhere from 18 months to 24 to bring it to life”.
Gandhi has developed a network of various artists and artisans, some of whom are booked for two years in advance.
Dragon in Clouds is the inaugural release of Kandoblanc’s Yukari collection, which is described as ‘a philosophical design journey that explores emotional depth through singular objects d’art’.
It is a blend of Japanese craftsmanship and Italian glassmaking expertise. Developed over two years, the project involved collaborations with artisans from Japan, including the Hikoju Makie collective, and Murano glass maker Venini.
The vessel’s design is inspired by traditional Japanese ceramic aesthetics, featuring flowing contours that suggest both movement and stillness.
The upper contours of the vessel highlight the ancient art of Urushi lacquerware, applied by Japanese artisans using the Togidashi maki-e decorative technique.
The whisky is housed in a 1.5-litre magnum vessel designed by Venini.
In addition to Dragon in Clouds, the Yukari collection will feature two further one-of-a-kind pieces inspired by Japanese cultural icons, each exploring different facets of the relationship between tradition and innovation that shapes Kandoblanc’s creative vision.
Future releases from Kandoblanc won’t just be for auction, with Gandhi selling directly to private clients.
“I want to continue to explore art forms. Japan is a personal passion of mine, I’m very passionate about Japanese aesthetics, that’s what makes me who I am,” he adds. “Objects on Kandoblanc are my coordinates of self-expression; they’re very interlinked to who I am. That’s what makes it fun for me.”
Beyond Kandoblanc, Gandhi has also developed a cask for distilleries in warmer climates that aims to deliver batch consistency.
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