Crafting Luxury

An exploration of the many issues and debates that surround the idea of luxury.

The idea of luxury has secured a place in contemporary Western culture and the term has now joined common parlance in both established and emerging economies. Crafting Luxury explores contentious issues surrounding perceptions of luxury, its relationship to contemporary branding as created by marketers, and the effect this has on consumers and their purchasing habits. It examines the industry structures, analyzing production practices as well as the effects of hierarchies on both internal and external perceptions of luxury, from the makers to the sellers and consumers. Offering different perspectives and interpretations of luxury, the authors dissect the work of companies across the industry, from established companies to emerging models and from conglomerates to small independents. They further explore the impact of technology on consumption, manufacture, the retail environment, and sales, providing a true insider’s view of this complex world.

Mark Bloomfield is a designer and visiting professor in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. He has worked in film and TV making jewelry for Titanic, Judge Dredd, Tolkien, Gentleman Jack, and The Crown. Shaun Borstrock is a luxury brand strategist and associate dean of business, innovation, and projects, and head of the Digital Hack Lab in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. Silvio Carta is an architect, associate professor, and head of art and design in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. He is the author of Big Data, Code and the Discrete City: Shaping Public Realms and Machine Learning and the City Reader. Veronica Manlow is professor in the Department of Business Management at the Murray Koppelman School of Business at Brooklyn College. She is the author of Designing Clothes: Culture and Organization of the Fashion Industry and coeditor of Global Fashion Brands: Style, Luxury, History, also published by Intellect.