The girl on the golden bottle
Artist Stephanie Rew, creator of the Compass Box Hedonism 2024 bottle, in her studio
Its 2000 release was the first ever bottle of whisky to feature a woman on the label. Now, 24 years on, artist Stephanie Rew has thrillingly re-imagined the iconic Compass Box Hedonism girl in shimmering, burnished gold leaf. Here, she talks to Tom Pattinson about a remarkable artistic endeavour — and why she encouraged her model to be ‘a goddess with a gaze’
The sunlight tries to squeeze its way through the grey clouds on this cold March morning. A strong gust of chilled, salty air blows between the haggard industrial buildings that line the waterfront in Leith.
A tall model, dressed in black, opens the door to a studio, housed in the former warehouse in Leith’s docklands. What once would house produce brought in from the West Indies, is today occupied by jewellers, blacksmiths, silversmiths and kiltmakers, as well as fine artists like Stephanie Rew.
‘Models should have a timeless, natural and unusual beauty’
Alex, the model, picks her way around the clutter of mannequins dressed in kimonos, and piles of vintage fabrics that Rew has accumulated in her studio of more than two decades. She steps onto a huge Afghan rug that keeps at bay the cold that seeps in through the concrete floor. She looks out through the frosty windows at one of the oldest buildings in this proudly independent Edinburgh neighbourhood – St Ninians Manse – that dates back to the 15th century.
She’s a little nervous as she shrugs off the thick layers that protect her from this Scottish spring. It’s the first time artist and model have met in person, and the news warns of an impending lockdown due to a new virus that has reached even these shores. Should they be together in this intimate space, sharing the same crisp sea air?
But Alex is put at ease by Rew’s gentle Edinburgh lilt, as they chat amongst the easels and brushes. Fairy lights, wrapped around 3D jigsaws, make the gold that can be found on much of Rew’s artworks twinkle, and make Alex think of home at Christmas time. Although it’s their first meeting, their shared love of a similar aesthetic makes it feel like they have known each other for years.
“I like using models who are not used to modelling it as it gives a different edge to their expressions. They should have a timeless, natural and unusual beauty,” explains Rew from her studio.
‘During those years she would spend hours every day studying, analysing and painting her face – a face she knew more intimately than her own’
Rew found Alex on Instagram, “I like the way Alex used her hands,” and the Polish architecture student, made it to Rew’s Edinburgh Studio the day before Scotland went into lockdown. As her last model before the world ground to a halt, Rew was lucky that she took hundreds of photographs of the girl who would turn out to be the muse she would spend the next two years painting.
During those years Rew would spend hours every day studying, analysing and painting Alex’s face – a face she knew more intimately than her own. So, three years later, when whisky company Compass Box approached her to create the artwork for the latest release of their famous whisky Hedonism, it could only have been Alex.
“I want their face to tell a story, I paint women I want to be or who are self-assured,” says Rew of her models. “I wanted that quiet strength and ownership.”
Although Rew often gets asked to work on commercial commissions, she rarely takes them. But for Compass Box – a brand that champions women in the work place, and that wanted a female artist to re-imagine the iconic lady on the Hedonism bottle images, it was an easy choice.
Artist Stephanie Rew with Compass Box founder John Glaser
“They let me do what I wanted to do. They didn’t want to give me too much direction but wanted to allow me to bring something of myself to it.”
Compass Box’s first release was Hedonism back in 2000 and it was the first bottle of whisky ever to feature a woman on its label. Since then, there have been a further seven releases of Hedonism – including this new 2024 release. Each has featured the same female form but now Rew was being asked to reimagine the grace and strength of the original Hedonism woman for this new label design.
From Left to Right, Hedonism bottles 2000, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2018, 2020 and Hedonism Core Collection
“I took the pose and nothing else. I wanted it to stay like the original Hedonism woman but make it my own and make it modern,” explains Rew. “The original one was a generic female face and I wanted to put more personality into it. I am not interested in the narrative of the painting – the viewer can make up the story – but I believe in this strength in femininity and I like painting the direct gaze, as its challenging to the viewer and it’s a conversation starter.”
‘Pyxis Nautica’ The Compass Box, 2023, Oil and 24 carat gold leaf on panel by Stephanie Rew
The direct gaze has been used in paintings from Rembrandt’s Self Portrait to Vermeer’s The Girl In the Pearl Earring. But, argues Rew, “Some people see the direct gaze as being threatening or grumpy. When painting Alex there is a direct gaze but there is a respect that I have for the model, and model has for the artist.
‘Most people are used to seeing women in art from a male perspective, I want them to become goddesses’
“Most people are used to seeing women in art from a male perspective,” continues Rew. “Women in art are meant to be desirable and of course I paint models and want to them look beautiful, but I tell them I want you to be a goddess, I want you to elevate yourself to that level.”
Although she has been a figurative painter since she graduated from Dundee College in 1994 it has been only more recently that Rew has decided to master the art of gilding too.
Glaser and Rew inspect the finished design
Her work features the female form reminiscent of the Baroque style with strong lighting and she is influenced by artists such as Holbein and Caravaggio. “Being a figurative painter was unfashionable when I was studying,” she says. “Especially to paint figures in the traditional style.” But then Rew got into fabrics, kimonos and different patterns, which led her to experiment with gold leaf. It’s a painstakingly slow process that has taken her six years to master.
“Ironically I’m the most impatient person I have met but without realising it was happening, when I was doing the gilding, it slowed me down and made me more methodical and changed the subject matter and the planning that went into a work, as I need to know what it is going to look like before I start,” she says.
Rew’s artwork as seen on the bottle
Rew talks me through the complex process of adding gold leaf to her paintings that involves making a gesso from rabbit skin glue and then adding up to 25 layers to a wooden panel before sanding it for days to create a marble finish (gold leaf will pick up any imperfections.) Detail can be added by scratching into the marble-like surface with an engraving tool before its polished with red clay to act as an adhesive and to allow some warm colour to shine through the incredibly thin gold leaf. When the gold leaf is added, it bonds with the wet clay polish, to become brick hard. Finally, she can burnish the gold with an agate stone to make the micron-thick leaf shine and look like solid gold.
The gold leaf gilding gives an early Renaissance style that combined with her contemporary painting methods, creates a timeless quality to the work, which can be seen in the work on the Hedonism 2024 release.
Rew in her studio
Rew also wanted to do something specific to Compass Box. She not only named her artwork Pyxis Nautica, the name of the constellation that Compass Box was named after, but the constellation has been painted into the artwork – something that’s hard to spot on the bottle but noticeable on the original.
Documenting Rew’s partnership with Compass Box is a short film called From Grain to Gold, which has just been released telling not just the story of Rew’s work but also the history of Compass Box as the first Blended Grain Scotch on the market in 2000.
The limited bottlings will now become an annual occurrence, with the bottle design being created by a different female artist each year. This is in part due to Hedonism no longer being made available as part of the brand’s ‘Core Range’ from February 2024, making these annual bottlings even more appealing to collectors and drinkers alike.
Back in the studio, Rew is surprised by the fact that now a whole different audience of whisky lovers will be able to appreciate her artwork and understand her methods. And for her model Alex, she has truly become a muse that will be marked in history, thanks to the work of Rew.
Compass Box Hedonism 2024 is out now.
