http://www.inpursuitofluxury.

com/

In Pursuit of Luxury

As a term which has made its way into everyday language, the idea of luxury has secured a place
in modern Western culture. In Pursuit of Luxury (IPOL) explores the many issues and debates
surrounding the idea of luxury as a historical and contemporary phenomenon, both critically and
commercially. These include:

 When and where did the concept of luxury originate? What is its history?
 How does luxury relate to social class?
 How does an object acquire luxury status? Is it through branding or high quality materials
and craftsmanship?
 Is it possible to mass-produce luxury?
 How and when does place/space become a part of the luxury-related experience? 
 What is the role of technology in mediating our experience of luxury? 
 In a globalised world of mass consumption and social inequity, is luxurious consumption
becoming ethically questionable?
 As the world’s finite resources diminish, do the implications of such conspicuous
consumption take on greater significance?
 What is the future of luxury in a world beset with political unrest, social uncertainty and
financial turmoil?

All of these questions make luxury a subject of pressing concern and rich debate.

Luxury in the Age of Technology

Luxury, innovation and technology have always been intertwined. Whether it be through the
manufacturing techniques developed during the eighteenth century or the emergence of digital
processes that impact on design, craftsmanship and production today. Circular economic models
address the need to be aware of the impact of our actions on the production of goods and
services. Technology continues to influence our lives and decision making processes. Data
driven information informs and enhances our understanding of the customer and can provide
goods and services to address their needs. This is in contrast to mass produced ‘services’ that
through global portals contradict the very nature of customisation.

It could be said that manufacturing and craftsmanship was, and remains, a critical component of
how luxury is defined. But is the impact of digital technologies changing our understanding of
what luxury means today? Should the notion of luxury be adapted / re-examined? What form
should it take that reflects and reacts to the continued advancements in technological processes,
opportunities and services?

Current concerns that need addressing include consumption and waste and the impact of our
actions on the planet, health and well-being, equality and change. An emphasis on corporate
social responsibility has enabled the tracking and tracing of finished goods and the materials
used in their construction, their environmental impact and the well-being of those involved in
production as the industry becomes more transparent. Can luxury therefore continue to remain
aloof?

The luxury customer has historically demanded the best. But now customers are also demanding
transparency, traceability and accountability. Through recognition of how mass consumption is
fouling the environment we are beginning to better understand the importance of circular
practice within the supply chain. Technology can and is being instrumental in organising and
defining this new world order. And as artificial intelligence becomes common place and aids our
decision making process, how long will it take to decide that the exponential growth of luxury is
not the most effective or efficient course of action?

Advances in technology continue to challenge the status-quo where innovation takes precedence
and forces change. This change is keenly balanced with traditional craftsmanship and skill. How
do these two concepts converge in a market that is both becoming increasingly demanding and
disparate? Some, if not all of these issues are pertinent and possibly contentious. With this in
mind we welcome papers that will contribute to debate and discussion around luxury, innovation
and technology.

We welcome papers that explore links between luxury and technology in all product and service
categories including manufacture, on-line including e-commerce, marketing and the virtual
luxury experience, bespoke product, design, materials and innovation.

The 2020 conference provides a platform to continue to expand our understanding of luxury. As
with previous conferences we  welcome contributions from various disciplines and practices
including automotive, architecture, engineering, fashion, product, digital design, retail,
hospitality – all of which explore luxury through a critical lens to encourage debate.

Themes and Strands

This conference intends to expand the parameters of the debate around the concepts of luxury to
provide a refreshing context to construe the familiar debates surrounding the subject.

Indicative themes for the conference are:

 History
 Digital technology
 The digital environment craft and the handmade
 Responsive environment and sensing
 Machine learning and artificial intelligence
 Social responsibility
 Social inclusion
 Wasted luxury
 Eco-design
 Tracking and mapping
  Branding, marketing and communication
 Consumption and consumer attitudes
 The retail environment
 Architecture
 Design
 Fashion
 Fashion film

IPOL SPECIAL ISSUE JOURNAL 5.2

‘The Space of Luxury’ 

Journal of Design, Business & Society, Volume 5.2, published by Intellect

Editor: Shaun Borstrock, University of Hertfordshire

This second In Pursuit of Luxury special issue for the Journal of Design, Business & Society
continues to explore the notion of luxury, including its evolving meanings, and applications
within a contemporary context.

The theme for this addition is centred around the space of luxury and has emerged from the In
Pursuit of Luxury conference. The invitation to interpret ‘space’ in this context includes
considering the physical, digital and philosophical environments that impact on and concern
luxury. In response, each author addresses the inconsistencies around the definition, promotion
and role of luxury.

Since defining luxury continues to elicit problems and inconsistencies, as is evidenced in the
continually expanding and changing definitions, it has become apparent that in a contemporary
context defining a product as luxury has increasingly become a term used to add value regardless
of product category and/or quality. What we have seen, and indeed continue to see, is an attempt,
not only by manufacturers, retailers and commentators but marketers as well, to attribute the
word ‘luxury’ to almost anything that adds value, and in turn has the ability to increase sales.
Inaccessible luxury, intermediate luxury, accessible luxury, absolute luxury, aspirational luxury,
masstige, prestige and premium are all examples of the terminology used to define luxury
products and services.

It could be said that luxury is in a state of flux or possibly under erasure. This could be seen to be
problematic as reclassifying all types of goods as luxury diminishes the value of the historically
very clear boundaries and definitions that defined luxury within a framework of connoisseurship
and scarcity and set it apart from other goods. 

What has emerged from the articles in this special issue is that luxury is no longer necessarily
referring to the product but rather perceptions thereof. As luxury is understood as something
unique and or even special, it is interesting to read how diverse each of the authors’
interpretation and understanding of luxury is. The articles also reveal how the appropriation of
the term elevates, or conversely demotes, meaning while in some instances adds value within this
varied landscape.

Themes include:

 The language of luxury

 The digital and physical spaces of luxury
 Technology and luxury
 Art and luxury
 History of Luxury
 Fashion and luxury

The second issue: 5.2 ‘The Space of Luxury’ is available here

The first issue: 4.2 ‘Producing Luxury’ is available here

A ‘Design Practicum’ Course Tackles Cape Town’s Water Crisis

https://som.yale.edu/news/2018/02/design-practicum-course-tackles-cape-town-s-water-crisis

 y Matthew O’Rourke

 In late January, Jessica Helfand joined 30 students from the Yale School of Management
and the Yale School of Architecture for a trip from the Yale campus to an unlikely
destination: the New Haven wastewater treatment plant. The students, who are taking
Helfand’s course “Design as Utility: Luxury, Sustainability, Waste,” were there to learn
about how the city uses its water supply and treats its sewage. Helfand also wanted them
to get a glimpse at the functioning of a water system that most of us take for granted,
because this spring they’ll be traveling together to a place facing a water crisis: Cape
Town, South Africa.

 This course is the second “design practicum” taught by Helfand, a renowned designer and
a lecturer in design and management at Yale SOM. The practicum format gives students
the opportunity to learn about problems impacting businesses and governments and help
develop solutions. It also gives them practice at thinking and collaborating in areas that
don’t fit easily into their respective academic and professional frameworks.

 “You take architecture students and MBAs,” Helfand says. “You get them out of their
respective buildings and to look at a topic that doesn’t have primarily to do with business
or architecture. When you take them someplace where not many of them have really
been, you’ve already leveled the playing field around knowledge. Then, you put them
together in combined teams, and the ideas begin to get more involved and interesting.”
 In South Africa, the class, working with Dr. Shaun Borstrock, Professor Mark
Bloomfield, and Nick Lovegrove and students from the University of Hertfordshire, will
be confronting one of the most vexing problems currently facing that country: water
scarcity. Cape Town is heading toward “Day Zero”—projected for June 4—when the city
is expected to exhaust its water supply after a nearly three-year drought.
Multidisciplinary student teams from Helfand’s course will travel to Cape Town during
spring break in March to work on water-related projects with hospitals, hotels, elder care
facilities, townships, and wealthier suburbs. The collaboration includes a number of
workshops where all students, working in teams will study the problem and devise a
range of possible design solutions. The teams will base their work on first-hand
experiences gained on site through a series of surveys and observational studies.

 The idea is to get students to look for creative solutions to conservation for the short and
long term while reconsidering what might be considered luxury or waste, Helfand says:
“Say you’re working at a hospital and you find there’s an excess of bandages but they’re
rationing water to make tea—do those bandages become filters for making tea? They’re
not just looking at what can we recycle or upcycle in the circular economy around water
procurement, conservation, and scarcity, but they’re looking at it in relation to an actual
community.”

 Melinda Agron ’18, a joint-degree student at Yale SOM and the School of Architecture,
says that the course offers the chance to work at the intersection of her interests in design
and business, while addressing a societal need. The course, she notes, is similar in spirit
to a School of Architecture project in which students design homes for New Haven
residents and try to accommodate practical solutions to a variety of housing challenges.

 Agron’s team is working with an international hotel chain in Cape Town, looking at how
the chain can use the crisis as a way to promote responsible tourism.

 “We’re trying to take a bigger-picture approach to more diversified solutions beyond the
water crisis,” Agron says. “How do we promote tourism without adding pressure on the
resources that the residents already need when they’re limited? We’re thinking of a
variety of approaches to frame the problem and then address it.”

 In the weeks before the trip, students are meeting weekly for three-hour sessions with
guest speakers including a landscape architect; an expert on the water crisis in Flint,
Michigan; and a materials designer. During the trip, students will present their findings at
a conference co-sponsored by Yale SOM and the University of Hertfordshire  in Cape
Town titled “In Pursuit of Luxury,” which will examine luxury, sustainability, and waste.

 Helfand says that she wants students to complete their visit to Cape Town feeling
humbled and connected to their work.

 “I want them asking themselves what it means to be humane and sustainable and if
they’re designing products from their own privileged lens, or if they’re hearing the needs
of the people on the ground. How do you go into a place for five days and leave a
meaningful impact?”