initial exploration
What is Luxury?
Examples of products from the Design Museum shop. Material & Design led luxury. Sorted by most popular.
Dictionary definitions: ‘Luxury: great comfort, especially as provided by expensive and beautiful things’
Examples of 2019 PDE Collection Products: 1.
“Silinder” Desk tidy by Fergus Telfer - Recycled aluminium pipe, wood veneer. £26
2. Magnetic Key Holder by Fern Auld - Laser cut plywood with cast resin forms and stainless steel fixings. £35
‘Luxury goods: expensive things, such as jewellery and make-up, that are pleasant to have but are not necessary’ These luxury objects could differentiate themselves from the norm ergonomically, aesthetically or have an enhanced tactile quality. Furthermore, it could be reasoned that tailored, bespoke items signify luxury due to their rarity and the time and care put into their creation (see design museum shop examples). To further this, the attitudes of care and time could reflect in the material choice of the product, perhaps the decision to use more expensive materials that have less of a social and environmental effect on the planet.
3.
“Fragmented Man” - Jesmonite planter by Kristofer Mcleod - Cast jesmonite. £35
4.
“Modulo” - two part jesmonite desk tidy by Emma Williamson. - Cast terrazzon jesmonite. £42
5.
“FOLD” card holder by Kasim Ali - Leather with steel screw fastenings - £25
6. “OX” Noughts and Crosses game by Gerardo Lerma Molina - Cast resin and Laser Etched Slate. £45 7.
Examples of classic ‘luxury’ items
“Deconstructed” - Cantilever shelf by Juan Sanz De Bremond - Concrete and line bent brass. £47
Looking at the previous products, I noticed certain common themes: • Largely material driven. A lot of these products use one material as the centrepiece, often jesomite and seem to base their design around the constraints of the material. As well as this, these products seem to have few materials in total. This would cut down the complexity to manufacture.
Some items from the PDE Collection 2019
• Bright, high contrast colour schemes. This gives the PDE collection a modern, clean overall aesthetic This juxtaposition in colour or shade is often found in a difference in materials, rather than a difference in surface finish. This can be seen in‘OX’ by Molina, with the difference in both colour and texture between the cast resin of the pieces and he laser etched slate.
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dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/luxury gsapress.blogspot.com/2019/12/news-release-gsa-pde-students-unveil.html designmuseumshop.com/
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So What?
What Now?
• Identified similarities and themes between previous PDE collection products
• Explore available materials
• Defined and explored the concept of ‘Luxury’
• Start initial design ideas
• Create a set of limitations in the form of a PDS
