on luxury  

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Hi Barry, we really need some concrete info on prices 30 years ago versus prices now and then we need to take into account inflation and any changes in the average income p/a.
A few people have pointed out in the past that prices havn't changed that much over the years, do you have any old catalogues or price lists?
Its substiting inferior materials or coming up with gimmicks that I find more irritating.
Luxury is about appreciation and sensitivity more than anything else, imagine these little Japanses flats stuffed with luxury goods, does that make it a luxurious place to live, no way! Its just a gilded cage.
Theres more luxury in a bubble bath than 5 hermes scarves that some sectretary went without food for.

Luxury is about appreciation ...
Luxury is about appreciation and sensitivity more than anything else...
I still think you're alluding to an appreciation for quality or pride in craftmanship, which is different from luxury.
Hermes, for example, makes high quality goods. If you have to own a neck tie, for example, a Hermes is a really high quality, well made necktie to go for. Is it luxurious? Not especially, but it is well made. To me, luxurious would be a Hermes scarf dappled in precious gems and stuffed with eider down.
The high-dollar Kjaerholm stuff that kicked this discussion off -- In my mind it is hardly luxurious. Maybe I'm wrong. It is expensive, but it's sensible, not more than is necessary, and built well. It's high end, quality stuff.

High End
High End is blurring, and markets will change.........
Luxury/ verban is just a trend like any other, as is the low end bargain fashion and trend shopping..
This in an interesting article:
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/fashion/story/0,,2248591,00.html

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Hi Finch, working with materials, my hands and eyes my brain is incapable of seperating appreciation and luxury, I've tried but its impossible. What is anything if you can't appreciate its texture, colour, form, smell or taste?
The luxury goods you describe would be nothing to a blind man.
Can you really consider things like diamond encrusted bikinis luxury? The only desriptor I can come up with is absurd.

A dictionary definition of luxury:
1 archaic: lechery, lust
2: a condition of abundance or great ease and comfort : sumptuous environment ex: lived in luxury
3 a: something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary ex: one of life's luxuries
b: an indulgence in something that provides pleasure, satisfaction, or ease ex: she had the luxury of rejecting a handful of job offer
That adds an interesting twist. Lechery? Lust? Who knew!?

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well I'm more for number 2, I think Finch is swinging towards number 3.
But overall considering the way consumption and waste are running rampant I think its good to re-imagine what the idea of luxury might mean.
If whats promoted or accepted as luxury or good design or ethical is what you think is luxurious, well designed or ethical then you've probabaly just fallen into a marketing experts wet dream.

Hi Finch, working with materi...
Hi Finch, working with materials, my hands and eyes my brain is incapable of seperating appreciation and luxury...
My point was that there is a distinction between quality and luxury.
What is anything if you can't appreciate its texture, colour, form, smell or taste?...
These are components of quality, too. None of what you describe above conjures up luxury.
The luxury goods you describe would be nothing to a blind man.Can you really consider things like diamond encrusted bikinis luxury? The only desriptor I can come up with is absurd...
I was being tongue in cheek, but my point was that luxury IS absurd, generally speaking. And for what it's worth, I grew up around a blind woman, and she was just as concerned with Luxury for the sake of being luxuriant as anyone with 20/20.

well we've established that i...
well we've established that its subjective at least 🙂 The example of the blind person illustrates that quite dramatically, any disabled person would have radically different ideas of luxury, gold leaf probably feels much like aluminium foil under the fingers! Cashmere or scented gardens might be more luxurious in that case.
Which perhaps shows that luxury in an accepted sense is primarily visual, considering weve got 5 senses it needs extending.
Gosh I'm really not trying to be difficut, I've put my personal definition of luxury across quite clearly, if what you think of as luxury you also think of as absurd then you must have an idea of whats luxurious but not absurd, or ar the two mutually inclusive to you? From what you've typed it seems they are. Surely not! Don't deprive yourself, like Christopher Alexander or the slow food movement we need to actively re-imagine things, taking the best of the past before luxury became commodified.
To short circuit this possibly endless ping pong I'll ask you directly, what have you purchased or experienced that you could describe as luxurious?
I'd like to know what people think.

John Edwards getting a 400...
John Edwards getting a 400 dollar haircut probably seems luxurious to most people, including myself; I also consider it absurd. For a multimillionaire, it may be just another errand in a days work. I think you're right when you say this is a subjective discussion, and context has a lot to do with that. That said, I don't think the definition of luxury is relative. Everything you have described to me, Heath, has registered to me as high craft, which I rate far above mere indulgence.
Personally speaking, luxury comes from a fine meal or a good bottle of wine or Belgian beer. But generally, I derive a more enduring pleasure from interfacing with high-end materials, whether it be tools, a cd player or a chair. To me, a set of Snap On wrenches is not a luxury. It's extraordinary, and high-end, yes, but not luxuriant or indulgent.

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woo hoo getting somewhere, yes to me utility + high craft (amoung other things) is luxury, quite so.
To you, its good fine and wine.
Its the relativity of luxury thats fascinating.
Anyone else?

My luxury
has an aspect of indolence....something that I never have the time for. My post above pretty well sez it. (who irons their bedding??) I've never thought of luxury being a visual thing, though. It's a sensual thing to be sure, but all my senses need to be involved. To me, taste is a strong sense for experiencing luxury. Chocolate for me is a very luxurious thing. So is Champagne. Touch is another sense that knows luxury. Fabrics, girly potions and lotions, a deep massage or a soak in a hot bath. Scent is also good at finding luxury. Coffee, perfume, the smell of Freesia blossoms...oh that one makes me swoon.
However, I'm having trouble imagining a luxurious sound. Anyone?

Luxury also seems to be quite relative
One person's luxuries maybe another's necessities. You may have a $5,000 tool set that you interact with daily and don't consider a luxury item, another may turn a fifty cent screw driver once a decade and the 5k set looks absolutely indulgent.

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the sound of lawnmowers stopping.
Perhaps you're right Olive, touch is very important too.
I like Mahler, but I'm not sure if I'd call it luxurious, I'm sure there are some musical people on here who could come up with something, often silence can be quite luxurious.
I've been told my beard is luxuriant 🙂

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woo hoo getting somewhere,...
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woo hoo getting somewhere, yes to me utility + high craft (amoung other things) is luxury, quite so...
But not quite. Remember, Luxury by definition connotes what is not necessary. Utility, on the other hand is just that...utilitarian. High craft is just that...well made goods. Again, a Gibson guitar or Chickering piano is not a luxury item to me -- they are a cut above, yes. Also, something can be sensually fulfilling without being a luxury.
I really feel like this has descended into semantics. There's nothing much interpretive in the definition of luxury; there are, I agree, varying levels of luxury and this hinges on both means and context.

I have used the words re-ima...
I have used the words re-imagine and subjective a few times now. I am NOT interested in dictionary definitions, they are boring.
Conventional luxury is often unethical and absurd as we agree.
So it needs to be re-defined.
What is luxury today may be seen in years to come as obscene, ivory, tiger skins anyone?
Sorry finch, semantics it is and my ping pong bat is on the floor.