Design POV was built on the understanding that design is felt through atmosphere, material, sound, memory, and the moments of connection that happen within a space. The platform gathered architects, artists, brands, and designers across disciplines under a shared conviction that space is something to be lived rather than looked at. 

The Macallan marked its presence at Design POV ’26 as the official Experience Partner, hosting an exclusive tasting experience on the first night of the showcase. 

The experience was set against The Circle – an immersive installation named Shared Frequencies created by Doyel Joshi and Neil Ghose Balser of How Are You Feeling Studio in collaboration with Saurabh Suryan of Fourthreefive – a space conceived as a meeting ground rather than a stage. 

The seating was proportioned to echo The Macallan’s signature box packaging, each layer corresponding to a stage in the tasting journey guests were about to take. Across the floor, projections of the brand’s distinctive wave pattern, inspired by its distillery’s roofline, extended the brand’s visual identity into the physical space. Through the day, the installation held open conversation and by evening, it had pulled inward into something more focused. 

The environment itself was constructed around ideas of ritual, perception, and presence, asking how materiality, form, and movement alter the quality of exchange between people. It resisted the static, offering instead a space that shifted and responded, built for discovery as much as observation. 

The Macallan Brand Ambassador Karandeep Arora guided guests through the tasting. Guests were also invited to put together their own potpourri bags, each holding one of four scents carefully selected to correspond with the flavour profiles experienced.  

The tasting opened with The Harmony Collection Vibrant Oak, introducing notes of fragrant pears, vanilla, and toasted coconut. Guests then moved into the Double Cask 15 Years Old, layered with baked apples, butterscotch, nutmeg, and dried fruits, before concluding with the Sherry Oak Cask 18 Years Old, which revealed deeper notes of dried orange, cinnamon, and dark chocolate. The Macallan Classic Cut 2023, characterised by notes of pear, elderflower, vanilla pod, and almond biscotti, was served as part of a cocktail experience to close the evening. 

The guest list, put together by Siddhi H. Dolas and Teena Ahuja, drew a cross-section of multi-disciplinary professionals to the room, among them Dinesh Thakkar, Vinay Thakkar, Nandini Bhalla, Priti Rathi Gupta, Savreen Minhaas, Analita Seth, Dev Mourr, and Shrima Rai. 

On a platform shaped by sensory design, The Macallan’s presence made the case that craft, when given the right atmosphere, can create experiences that linger well beyond the evening itself.