Dezeen Magazine

Brancott Estate reveals design collaboration with Studio Dror

Dezeen promotion: New Zealand winemaker Brancott Estate has announced its plan to build a permanent, site-specific installation by New York designer Dror Benshetrit in its Marlborough vineyards, as part of a new partnership.

The winemaker, which created the world's first Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and is led by Patrick Materman, invited Benshetrit to create an installation that relates to the winemaking process.

Brancott Estate and Studio Dror
Under/standing – Studio Dror's installation to be built in 2016 on Brancott Vineyard

The nine-metre-tall sculpture begins as a flat matrix of Corten weathering steel, before stretching open to create a tower of three-dimensional diamond-shaped patterns. The material will allow the sculpture to weather naturally and blend into the environment.

"The vocabulary used by Patrick Materman [to describe the wine] kept circling in my head – body, expansion, volume," said Benshetrit. "I wanted to make something that communicated these terms, as well as the geometric orientation of the vineyard."

Brancott Estate and Studio Dror
Patrick Materman and Dror Benshetrit overlooking Brancott Vineyard

Benshetrit envisioned a design that would appear to have emerged from the ground surrounding the grapevines.

"Dror's appreciation for craftsmanship and holistic approach to design has a strong synergy with our brand values," said Materman. "Transformation underpins all of his work and this reflects our history and spirit in a way that is truly exciting and pioneering."

The permanent sculpture will be erected in 2016 on Brancott Vineyard, Marlborough – which has transformed from a collection of sheep farms to a world-leading wine growing region.

Titled Under/standing, the project was partly informed by a statement made by American architect Buckminster Fuller, who believed that in order to fully understand something, one had to built it, then stand up under it.

Brancott Estate and Studio Dror
Present wine rack by Studio Dror. Photograph by Tom Hayes

Echoing the grid-like format of the installation, Studio Dror has also designed an electro-coated steel wine holder that features enough triangulations to store six bottles.

A limited first run of 500 wine racks have been produced, and a small number will be available to purchase from the Brancott Estate Heritage Centre and on the company's website.

Yesterday evening, Benshetrit and Materman were in conversation with Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs in New York to mark the launch their collaboration.