PATRÓN Tequila wants to give back to grassroots and community craftspeople by recognising creators and innovators in the design, fashion and hospitality industries with PATRÓN 60 Hands – Pay It Forward, a $25,000 grant to help them continue their craft. Giving back to the local community underpins PATRÓN, and through PATRÓN 60 Hands – Pay It Forward the premium spirit brand wants to ‘pay it forward’ to the Australian creative community. Understanding that mentorship is an important element of the creative arena, six judges who are dominant in their own fields of craft will also be on hand to judge the grant applications.
PATRÓN 60 Hands is a national call out to those in the handmade fields of design (sculptors, ceramicists, industrial designers, landscape designers, sustainable designers, interior designers), fashion (tailoring, fashion and jewellery designers) and hospitality industries (chefs), and is about honouring and nurturing talented craftspeople, and helping them hone their abilities. To apply for the grant, makers are asked to submit a short video explaining what craftsmanship means to them, and how the $25,000 grant would help them support their craft.
A re-appreciation of all things handmade has been steadily growing in recent years, with people looking for things that have enduring value, are meaningful and sustainable. If anyone knows of the craftsmanship that goes into creating an authentic handmade item, it is PATRÓN Tequila, and PATRÓN 60 Hands speaks to the fact that the spirit is handmade, with 60 hands needed to craft it into what we know as PATRÓN Tequila. From the farmers, known as Jimadors, who harvest the agave that become tequila, to the agave being crushed using the ancient tahona stone method, to the local Mexican glass artisans who mould and handpick the PATRÓN Tequila bottles, every element of PATRÓN is handmade.
With PATRÓN translating to ‘boss’, the six judges helping to recognise these makers are bosses in their own fields and will offer invaluable insight into each of their crafts and industries. These judges consist of design and architecture connoisseur and comedian Tim Ross, Camilla Freeman-Topper and Marc Freeman, founders of renowned Australian fashion label CAMILLA AND MARC, architects Ingrid Richards and Adrian Spence of award-winning Brisbane firm Richards & Spence and the architects behind The Calile Hotel, founder and creative directer of White Story, Fiona Myer, industrial designer and founder of international surfboard brand HaydenShapes, Hayden Cox, and ceramicist and Artichoke magazine editor Cassie Hansen.
“I’m delighted to be a judge of this wonderful and timely initiative, and I’m looking forward to engaging with the work and ethos of those who enter,” said Tim Ross about the PATRÓN 60 Hands – Pay It Forward campaign.
Though PATRÓN Tequila has grown to become one of the most recognised and respected luxury spirits in the world, it is still exclusively produced in the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, in the same small batches and with the same commitment to quality and craftsmanship.
“The craftsmanship that goes into the making of a handmade item is incredible. PATRÓN itself is a refined handcrafted spirit, so there is a great synergy between the craftsmanship of our tequila and these makers, and we want to nurture these talented craftspeople through PATRÓN 60 Hands. We’re looking forward to seeing entries from far and wide across Australia,” said Stephanie Sarantakos, PATRÓN Tequila Australia’s Brand Manager.
While the handcrafted nature of PATRÓN plays a major role in the creation of the spirit, PATRÓN is also dedicated to taking care of the resources and people that make the spirit possible, from sustainable practices at the distillery to reforesting trees and supporting local orphanages, sustainability and giving back to the community are at the core of PATRÓN Tequila.
Craftspeople who wish to apply for the PATRÓN 60 Hands grant are invited to submit an application via the website HERE. Applications are open now, and close at midnight on Friday 23 October (AEST)
The perfection of PATRÓN Tequila stems from the process used to create the spirit, which begins with harvesting Weber Blue Agave over seven years. Following this, the agave is hand-chopped and baked for over seventy hours in brick ovens, before being crushed using the ancient Tahona stone and modern roller mill. The agave juices are then fermented for three days, before being distilled in small batch copper pots. Once distilled, the tequila is aged in five different varieties of oak barrels, for PATRÓN Tequila’s different age variants.
