Aki Kuroda Whiskey Chichibu - La Maison du Whiskey

Since 2004, LMDW La Maison du Whiskey has been organizing Whiskey Live Paris at La Villette. The world brands of whiskey and rum are present. Whiskey Live Paris is the largest event in Europe dedicated to whiskey and spirits tasting.

LMDW distributes, among others, the Japanese brand Chichibu.

This year Le Whiskey Live Paris inaugurated the Carré Collectors where rare and old whiskeys were tasted.

Fine Spirits Auction, the first French platform 100% dedicated to spirits, invests Whiskey Live Paris and offered an auction of completely new lots from Chichibu in September 2022.

Yoyo Maeght offered LMDW 8 works by Aki Kuroda to adorn Chichibu's labels.

4 models of labels made from Aki Kuroda Self -portraits paintings for bottles from 4 barrels, between 176 and 262 bottles for each label.

It is no coincidence that the self-portraits of the Japanese artist were chosen by La Maison du Whisky. Produced in acrylic on canvas, Aki Kuroda's painted faces recall the ancestral tradition of masks, while asserting a very expressive modernity, in a style tending towards abstraction. An identity that is both resolutely modern and nourished by traditional know-how that suits Chichibu well.

"The auction took place in two stages. Among the approximately 700 lots submitted, about twenty were offered free of charge by the main players in the whiskey and rum industry, such as Chichibu whisky, in order to participate in the financing of actions carried out by the GoodPlanet foundation, including two field projects concerning the preservation of biodiversity in the Saloum delta in Senegal and the development of agroforestry and the restoration of biodiversity in the Tarn.

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The four bottles developed exclusively for this exceptional sale, accompanied by original paintings by Aki Kuroda, were sold for 20,602 euros. These original single casks from Chichibu offer four types of ageing, including a particularly unexpected one in ex-barrel wine made from a Japanese grape variety. Like the different facets of the same person, the distillery's four unique casks explore Chichibu's know-how and reveal the very distinct temperaments of the same creative spirit. Produced in oil on paper, Aki Kuroda's painted faces recall the ancestral tradition of masks, while asserting a very expressive modernity, in a style tending towards abstraction. An identity that is both resolutely modern and nourished by traditional know-how that suits Chichibu well."