BMW Design Talk: Modesty Now Defines Luxury

Car Body Design reports on the BMW Design Talk held recently at the  Concorso d`Eleganza historic car show in Italy. The theme of the panel was “Art and Design: Is Modesty the new Luxury?” Participants on stage were Thomas Demand (artist), Alfredo Häberli (designer), Louisa Hutton (architect), Inga Sempé (designer) and Adrian van Hooydonk (Director Design BMW Group)

All the panelists agreed that the global economic crisis has hit the reset button on design priorities. What is emerging is a focus on sustainability, modesty, quality. Photographer Thomas Demand considers luxury to now be more inwardly focused rather than outwardly expressed.

Why do we immediately associate luxury with wealth? One does not need to own to be able to enjoy. Luxury, he pointed out, is a state of mind.

BMW Design Director Adrian van Hooydonk thinks that the next major design movement will grow out of a foundation of sustainable thinking. He thinks the coining of the new word ”Sustaethics” shows that people are looking for ways to classify the new breed of products and architecture.

Architect Louisa Hutton speculated a nearing end to ego-architecture and a return to focusing on design and not the designers.

We are returning to a human measure of things.

[via carbodydesign ]