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WINCHESTER, KY – Ale-8-One Bottling Company worked with University of Kentucky faculty in the School of Design to develop an industrial art exhibit honoring the company’s 80th Anniversary. Art reflecting industry was the theme of a lighted wall of Ale-8-One bottles which reacts to changes in sound and outlines the 80 year old company’s signature logo.
Designer Karen Lewis remarks, “People usually think factories are messy, dirty spaces, but actually they’re incredibly clean and well organized. I wanted to communicate the logic of the Ale 8 bottling process into the design of the bottle wall. All of the bottles are lined up into strict rows, forming the letters that spell out Ale 8 One. The colored lights illuminate the bottles so the wall sparkles with color, it becomes effervescent. When the factory is in full production, the noises and beeps in the factory cause the wall to change colors, so the wall itself visually responds to the bottling process.”
The wall contains more than 750 green bottles and is symbolic of the Ale-8-One manufacturing process nestled in the beauty of our commonwealth. There are four key blocks in the wall which stands 7’ tall and 16’ wide and interestingly enough there are also four manufacturing stages of an Ale-8-One: Separation of the glass bottle from its palletized origin, preparation of the bottle for filling, the bottle filling process and the final retail packaging.
Public Relations Director, DeAnne Elmore said the original idea began as a can stacking piece to be on temporary display for the 80th Anniversary, but after meeting Karen and seeing her portfolio, she knew the project could be much more creative. “We toured the plant; looked at available space and the available materials and Karen came back with three ideas. We felt the wall was the most creative and the most meaningful”, said Elmore.
The green glass bottles were chosen as the material for the background to signify the Commonwealth of Kentucky in its peak of beauty in July. The Kentucky soft drink company celebrated its 80th anniversary on July 13, 2006. The Ale-8-One logo is prominently displayed inside the background and the Kentucky Proud cardinal overlooks the logo. There are fiber optic lights inserted into the bottle necks which illuminate the green glass with different shades of yellows, blues, reds and greens. The sound sensitive lights change as the level of noise in the factory changes providing depth and movement to the piece.
The wall was constructed in three days by designer Karen Lewis and two of her students, Matt Baton and Bryan Gatlin. Lewis, a faculty member at the University of Kentucky, College of Design, School of Architecture, specializes in research that involves factories, organizations and typography and teaches architecture studios focused on systems, infrastructure and logistics as well as seminars on typography and visual identity. Lewis also spent a number of years in New York as a museum exhibition designer before attending the Harvard University School of Design and receiving her Masters in Architecture.
Fielding Rogers, executive vice president and fourth-generation owner commented, “Karen’s love of manufacturing combined with her training in architecture and her background designing museum exhibits makes this piece especially interesting. It would remind you of an interactive piece you’d see in a museum of science and industry in a metropolitan city.”
The wall may be viewed in person by touring the Ale-8-One plant in Winchester with advanced notice.
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