We recently stumbled across an interesting article from Dr. Laura R. Oswald PhD, on the role of consumption in modern society, and in particular the role of shopping as a search for meaning in contemporary culture.
The piece is especially relevant for the post-recessionary environment where the challenge for luxury brands is not just to justify [...]
Examples of overlap between museum culture, retail culture and experiential culture seem to be an emerging theme for 2010.
See our earlier posts… Art galleries and the future of retail, and Luxury brands and the rise of liquid architecture.
Now the Serpentine Gallery in London has announced another initiative offering people the opportunity to stay the night.
On [...]
If luxury products are defined by the triumph of symbolic meaning over rational meaning, then some products push the idea to triumphant extremes.
While many such examples are for satirical or artistic effect, such as Crystal Chou’s recent Superluxe project in San Francisco, others are more commercial.
At the threshold of this idea of luxury, superstition, and [...]
Edward Johns Urwick (1867 – 1945) had a distinguished career as an author, professor of social philosophy, and general champion of the idea of social good. In 1906, he wrote an excellent book called Luxury And Waste of Life. It’s a highly entertaining read, wrestling, as it does, with the issue of whether luxury spent [...]
On May 30th 1978, a company called Blue Ribbon Sports changed its name to NIKE Inc. and a legend was born.
This summer, celebrating the spirit of 78, Paul Jenkins, a graduate from the London College of Communication has launched the NIKE78 project. Creatives involved will receive a brand new pair of NIKE shoes and will [...]
Image (C): GapingVoid
An old article – recently highlighted on the ever-inspiring Social Fiction site – traces affluent society back to hunter culture; and outlines various global tribal cultures which prioritized three hour days, and a cultivation of leisure over work, and which had a decidedly consumption-oriented attitude to the world around them.
Read the full article on Eco [...]
At Agenda Inc., we are constantly trying to understand how luxury brands – and the consumers who sponsor their survival – will behave in the future.
An interesting new option comes from the book, The Empathic Civilization, which suggests that beyond the materialistic, self-interested, pleasure-seeking part of the brain is a much more powerful force; of [...]
New York based artist, Massimo Gammacurta, has just published a book – Lolli-pop – celebrating the edible side of luxury logos.
The images are on show at the Visionairs Gallery in Paris, until June 7th.
Visit Massimo Gammacura’s website
For an even more intense – and possibly complementary – look at luxury brand consumption, see our blog post [...]
In 1954, Life Magazine ran a completely fascinating four-page special on a new segmentation of U.S. social structure.
“There are three basic categories of a new U.S. social structure, and the high-brows have the whip hand” runs the sub-head, before the magazine launches into a handy tongue-in-cheek comparison chart about how and what you should be [...]