Negroni Week is a week-long global charitable event, presented each year by Imbibe and Campari. It has always been a renowned week celebrating one of the world’s greatest cocktails in an effort to raise money for charities. Campari is the red heart of every Negroni, and has always been at the forefront of cocktail culture, inspiring limitless creations and igniting passion in bartenders across the world since its birth in 1860.
As part of Negroni Week 2021, Campari has partnered with award-winning bartender Luke Whearty from BYRDI Melbourne to craft a unique new cocktail – the ‘Mornington to Milan’.
The ‘Mornington to Milan’ cocktail has been turned into an original retro-inspired Campari painting by Nico Nicoson. The artwork is up for auction with the final bid amount going to Scarf Community Organisation, a charity that aims to transform the lives of young people seeking protection, and those from refugee and migrant backgrounds, by getting them into work in the hospitality industry.
We spoke to Nico about the collaboration and how he brought the cocktail to life through art.
How did you get involved with this initiative?
Campari reached out to me asking if I would create a retro-inspired painting to celebrate Negroni Week this year. Negroni Week is a worldwide annual charitable event, but with Negroni’s being enjoyed at home this year, Campari wanted to do something a bit different. The last two years have been really hard for so many in the hospitality industry and arts community, so they wanted to create an original artwork inspired by it’s retro posters to auction off for charity.
Having the opportunity to work with a brand like Campari, that has always been such a true supporter of the arts, was very exciting. Campari’s retro posters are iconic so when I was approached to help continue on that tradition, I was truly honoured!
What was the inspiration behind the artwork?
I usually draw a lot of inspiration from modernist and hard-edge painting movements as well as mid-century graphic art and design, which I was able to blend for this project.
The brief for the work aligned to the famous Negroni cocktail. For this painting, I took inspiration specifically from the ‘Mornington to Milan’ Negroni created by Luke Whearty from BYRDI Melbourne. Embodying fashion and elegance, the female face represents Milan, while the shoreline represents Mornington Peninsula. The orange segment nods to the 1921 artwork created by Leonetto Cappiello for Campari and references the exotic Chinotto orange used in producing Campari.
Overall, I really wanted to capture the essence of what Campari means to me. When I think about drinking Campari, I see images of the Italian coastline, relaxing in the sunshine and just enjoying life.
How long did it take you to create the artwork?
In total, it took me around 30 hours to create the painting, including the original sketches.
How does it feel knowing your work will help support such a great charity?
I’m so excited that the proceeds from this artwork will go towards Scarf Community Organisation, which helps transform the lives of young people seeking protection, and those from refugee and migrant backgrounds, by getting them into work in the hospitality industry. Honestly, I cannot wait to get back out there and support the industry for myself (with a Negroni in hand!)
You can check out the ‘Mornington to Milan’ artwork and show your support by heading here. Bidding will remain open until Thursday, September 23.
