How The Mordant Family’s Quattro Gatti Gin Became the Official Spirit of the 61st Venice Biennale

At least 600,000 international visitors are expected to attend the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia throughout its seven-month run, commencing May 9. With a thematic direction conceived of by the late Koyo Kouoh, “In Minor Keys,” the 2026 Venice Biennale will feature 111 invited participants, roughly 60 national pavilions, and—for the first time—an official spirit, Quattro Gatti Gin. The partnership is less a promotional move and more aligned with the fact that the Umbrian gin’s founding family, the Mordants, have been involved with the Biennale for more than three decades.

Four Mordant family members together created Quattro Gatti Gin: Simon and Catriona, along with their son Angus and daughter-in-law Brielle. Simon began attending the Biennale as a child. After he married Catriona, who was equally driven by a passion for the arts, they continued the tradition together. Simon has since been the Venice Biennale commissioner for Australia, twice, and this year he’s a Global Ambassador for the Australian Pavilion. Most importantly, Simon championed the rebirth of the Pavilion.

“In Australia’s bicentennial, the Venice authorities granted Australia the penultimate site in the gardens. It’s the only waterfront site,” he explains. “A temporary pavilion was erected at great speed. Over the following 25 years, that pavilion didn’t do the artists any justice. It became very difficult to program. A number of us in Australia started to think about whether it was possible to rebuild. It was a bit of a dream.”

Simon and Catriona retained consultants—and learned that the Australian site was the only non-heritage-listed pavilion in Venice. “That led us to wonder, ‘why can’t we build something contemporary that will serve the artists,’” he explains. “The planning approvals in Venice are challenging and the site is leased by the Australian government. We went to the government and asked if we could raise the money to build a new pavilion.”

The Mordants sought out the original architect and received his consent to remove the first pavilion. They then invited every architect in Australia to submit a proposal for its replacement. They shortlisted six, requested detailed proposals, and assembled a panel. Ultimately, Melbourne’s Denton Corker Marshall was chosen. Simon and Catriona were lead donors on the project, and ten years later (in 2015) the pavilion opened. In this very space, Australia programmed “kith and kin,” an installation by First Nations artist Archie Moore, which won the 2024 Golden Lion for Best National Participation.

The Quattro Gatti Gin integration is woven into this. “Last Biennale, Cat and I sponsored Adriano Pedrosa’s curated show. I also knew Koyo well,” Simon explains. “In discussions with the Biennale over our contributions to Koyo’s presentation, I asked, ‘have you ever thought about having a spirits sponsor?’ They’d only had three long-term sponsors, Bulgari, American Express, and Illy. We had a number of conversations. I raised it with Brie [Mordant], who said it was so consistent with the brand and what we wanted to do, that we should go for it.”

“I suspect every other gin company in the world is looking at us wondering how we pulled it off. Fortunately, we’ve entered into a multi-year agreement with La Biennale,” he adds. This partnership also includes an official cocktail, which will be served at restaurants and bars in the Biennale’s two primary venues, the Giardini and the Arsenale, as well as throughout the exclusive opening weekend events.

“Italian cocktail culture is so strong. But for so long the negroni has been made with Campari, Italian vermouth, and any miscellaneous gin that’s on the back bar,” Angus Mordant says. “That was a driving idea in crafting [Quattro Gatti’s first gin] Classico; it was to make the Negroni an entirely Italian drink, with gin that reflects Italian terroir.” The Biennale’s signature cocktail will not be a negroni—but it will be an Italian cocktail in an Italian arts and cultural moment.

Angus grew up spending time on his family’s Umbrian property, where he fell in love with the landscape, the food, and the people. “More recently, in 2021, dad and I took a gin-making course in England and we fell in love with that process,” he says. “Along the way, we learned that the best juniper in the world grows in Umbria. It seemed like a natural fit—to craft our love story to Umbria using juniper and the other botanicals from the green heart of Italy.”

The Mordants shared this passion project with friends and family, who urged them to enter it into competitions. As it began to score well, they decided it might have commercial potential. “We started by walking around the property and picking things left and right—the ginestra flower, olive leaf. We were sourcing from the land,” Angus continues. The Classico recipe went through 23 iterations.

Angus would tinker at home in Upstate New York, while Simon would tinker in Italy. Then they’d come together and work on it. The Mordants limited the ingredients to 10. “We wanted every botanical to add something directly or in a complementary way,” Angus says. “We wanted each botanical to tell its story, rather than blend into a wash of flavor.” Quattro Gatti’s second expression, Olive Grove Gin, came together more quickly.

The bottle and label design also went through multiple iterations. “We took all of our inspiration from Italian design history,” Brielle says. “There has been a long history—even back to the Renaissance—of Italian design having elegance without excess. We started there, with craftsmanship and proportion. Then we looked at modern Italian design— where there are these playful but distinct elements with a disciplined richness.”

Then, the Mordants honed in on Umbria. “We were looking at deeper greens and the terra cotta tiles of the architecture of the region, where many homes are made from stone. That informed the color palette for the brand,” Brielle continues. “Umbria has an understated elegance. It doesn’t have to announce itself. We drew inspiration from that philosophy for our label. We focused more on our printing techniques rather than a loud graphic label. You’ll see gold embossed elements. We wanted it to feel more textural.”

From Catriona’s perfume bottle collection to an expansive gin library as well as dialogues with bar teams, Quattro Gatti took shape. “It had to be something that felt like it would last forever,” Catriona says. Perhaps most impressive: the label of Olive Grove Gin was designed like the underside of an olive leaf. It even carries a subtle shimmer.

The Mordant family named the brand Quattro Gatti—four cats—as a way to harness the idea of being present together. “And that’s what the Biennale does,” Catriona concludes. “People meet up every two years. You catch up a little bit. You discuss art. It’s all about people gathering. It fits in with the fabric of Quattro Gatti. It’s a lovely thing for a family to do.”