A banquet where real, environmental and abstract cues turned the world upside down - London, November 2014
In November 2014 Bompas & Parr helped launch new German vermouth brand Belsazar to the UK market. Having been presented with its signature cocktail, we noticed how the brand had overturned traditional cocktail ratios of spirit to vermouth by making vermouth the hero liquid in its drinks. We were therefore inspired to create a banquet where real, environmental and abstract cues turned the world upside down to reflect this move.
Guests sampled 'anti-gravity' levitating canapes, sat at a mirrored feasting table where they could see themselves dining on the ceiling, received a reverse menu that could only be read in a mirror, and dined on a three course meal that also reflected this world of opposites by Michelin-starred chef Andy McFadden. The drinks of course were the arch manifestation of the approach, including one drink that was served 'in the rocks' inside an ice ball rather than the traditional 'on the rocks'. Even the sound in the room had been manipulated to reflect guests' conversations in a reverse echo.
Photography by Ann Charlott Ommedal.