Enforce One reveals the inspiration behind his new Glenfiddich collaboration

At a top-shelf event last week that united the who’s-who of Dubai’s cultural scene, Glenfiddich unveiled the latest expression of its Grande Series, the Grande Couronne in Dubai, teaming with one of the most well-respected street artists in the city—Enforce One.

That’s right, none other than Gary Yong, known as his handle Enforce One in street art circles, renowned for his larger-than-life murals, reimagined the lavish sleeve on the Grande Couronne packaging, adding some UAE flair to the Scottish and French heritage.

The project is more than just some pretty packaging, however. Speaking to Esquire Middle East, Yong opened up about how personal the project became for him, allowing him to draw not only from his time in the UAE, but going back to his roots in New Zealand and China as well.

Read the full conversation with the newest inductee to Glenfiddich’s Mavericks DXB Program, the first of many collaborations with top artists to come below:

I wanted to talk a bit about your perspective, how you are approaching this, how it began. What was it specifically that attracted you to this project?

I have previously collaborated with Glenfiddich, but that project was completely different from this. I think the challenge of being an artist from this region is about getting into the project in a pure, artistic way, and to be as creative as possible. It also gave me an opportunity to really turn to the nature of the geography here. That’s the most attractive thing for me going into the project.

I think it’s expected of your work that freedom is going to be really important. Glenfiddich is driven by innovation and experimentation. How does that fit your ethos as an artist?

I think sometimes you don’t even think about it. I’m really lucky because my dad was a Chinese fine artist. When I was a child, I would just always stumble across his tools, things that he was using back in the days.

Going into this career, it’s almost spontaneous. I started drawing at school, entered a competition, got more interested in graffiti art, and studied graphic design at university. Each thing informed my journey as an artist. Sometimes I do stop and think about it, but a lot of the time you just keep going. It is about having that hunger to try new things, to never think that you’re good enough. In a way, to not be complacent, and just keep looking at the next thing and welcoming challenges or opportunities, and be ready for those opportunities.

I’ve even gotten into projects where I am completely nervous and don’t even know if I can deliver it. But then, that’s the beauty of having a career like this. You just push yourself. After a project, you feel like you’ve kind of gone through art school again. I’ve been really lucky living here in this region for the last eight years, as well as coming from New Zealand.

If we’re talking about the product itself and the filigree that’s on the product, there’s this amazing, gorgeous original packaging for the Grande Couronne.

You, yourself come from a mix of cultures. You’ve been living in different places in the world, you’re being informed by different cultures in the world. How do you feel that the mix of cultures inspires your work?

First of all, let’s talk about this opulent filigree design. It is cool to remix it and part of the brief was exactly that. Glenfiddich is inviting an artist like myself to go, ‘look, this is beautiful, what can you do with it?’

It’s everything that you talked about. I am from very diverse cultural backgrounds. I’m Chinese. I was an immigrant to New Zealand. When I went to New Zealand, I started studying some of the Maori culture, Maori carvings, and native designs. New Zealand is very multicultural.



 










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To be honest, when I was reimagining this filigree design, I actually brought out all of those things–the Chinese culture, a little bit of that Maori symbols, as well as influences from the region. I designed it for the sleeve based on this knowledge without really overthinking it. It came really naturally to me. I just sat in front of the computer, looked at this beautiful original design, and I just started shaping it.

The final result is very much based on the original, but it’s also very much a visual style that I’ve been developing for a long time, and I keep bringing back out when the time is right. The time is right this time. Talking about general practice, I do always reach back to this pocket of Asian culture, and native-related visuals.

You don’t always get to pick what commercial projects come up. But sometimes a special project comes up, and you immediately know where to draw influences and inspiration from. When I get those kinds of projects, I’m definitely very excited to flex the visual style that I have.

Could you tell me more about the development of that style? What is it that speaks to you? How exactly does it manifest?

It’s constantly re-mixing things. There are no rules. I could be really interested in these old-school Japanese paintings, and the elements in this branch that I would take, and I would renew it and mix it with something contemporary.

I’m not just talking about artwork. I know musicians do the same thing. I know fashion designers do the same thing. But as a visual artist, I find this very interesting. It’s about having no boundaries. If I get a brief, I start with one idea and it just grows, and trust my instinct.

Going back to Glenfiddich, part of their ethos is this Maverick spirit. What does it mean to being a maverick mean to you? Would you categorize yourself as one?

I am a bit of a lone wolf. But I also know that to have individualism, you do need to be around people with different voices, people with different opinions, people that inspire you in a different way. I think I am a Maverick, and I do like that word. But at the same time, there’s only that much you can achieve.

For a really individual artist like myself, I have a pretty distinctive style, but I learned to use it when I need to. It’s liberating to know that I can let go and be with other people, work with other people. Because at the end of the day, if you’re going to have longevity, you have to learn a lot as an artist and you have to grow with influential people around you.

I think to be a true Maverick, you need to know when the time is to have a voice and be completely individual. We’ve all been through it. Even going through adolescence and dressing a certain way, I’ve had some crazy styles.



 










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I was influenced by the music scene. I’ve always had this individualism, but then as I’m getting older, I’m able to let that let my individualism come out in a different way, and continue to explore what that is. I don’t even think about it anymore. I guess I’m just busy trying to be me.

Once something is finally in front of people, they don’t necessarily have all context that I’m able to get in speaking to you. All they have is this piece of art in front of them. What do you hope that people take away from it without your full story?

I think people will see that that I’ve approached this project in a very free way. But at the same time, I’m very disciplined in every part of the project that I need to deliver. And for me, I don’t think there’s a lot of projects like that.

It also is paying homage to this region, and I hope people will notice that. It came really naturally to me, to be honest. Being someone from New Zealand, I’ve always been drawn to nature. I love our rainforest and our jungle, our bushes and ocean dunes and rivers and things like that naturally. So coming here, I’ve also had a huge love for the desert, and to the region’s falcons.

From the beginning, I kind of knew where to draw from, and then when I started putting them together, researching more into the meaning of the project, the whole theme about being resilient actually just formed quite late, but it all makes sense. It’s because of me having this kind of freedom, and just trusting my instinct to draw elements in, that I was able to create a cohesive theme, And visually, they all kind of match in a way. That’s something I am really appreciative of.