What is luxury?
For Passionswege 2013 the French/Swiss duo Bertille + Mathieu were paired with the Viennese crystal manufacturer J. & L. Lobmeyr, a company whose products grace Royal places, helped establish the Wiener Werkstätte and would by most popular, conventional definitions be considered "luxury", and have developed a delightful project that answers the question in an alternative, though equally valid, way.
Lollipops.
Sugar candy lollipops.
Specifically Bertille + Mathieu have used a series of objects from the J. & L. Lobmeyr repertoire, including parts of chandeliers and the base of the Alfred Loos' beakers, as the basis for a series of lollipops.
And every afternoon during Vienna Design Week the pair stand in J. & L. Lobmeyr, in the glare of chandeliers, reflected in mirrors and surrounded by finest cut crystal... heating sugar and forming lollipops which they then sell for a Euro a go.
What we really like about the project, aside from the interactive element and the chance to talk to the designers, which is something that all too often is missing in many a design week project, be that Vienna or elsewhere, is the simplicity of the comparison between sugar candy lollipops and crystal: a simplicity that stands in direct contrast to the monetary cost of the objects. And so by extrapolation the perceived value of the objects.
Not only are sugar and silica similar, but the lollipops that Bertille + Mathieu create are every bit as fragile and temporal as the crystal that surrounds them.
As we were there visitor after visitor had to be convinced that the lollipops weren't crystal. The delight in their faces once they understood was a true joy to behold.
And with this realisation comes further wisdom.
Luxury isn't necessarily a heavy chandelier or an expensive set of whisky glasses, luxury is what you need in a given moment, luxury is an unexpected pleasure, luxury is the opportunity to bring a smile to a loved ones face, luxury is the freedom to explore, to learn, to make mistakes, luxury is a couple of minutes alone, luxury doesn't exist.
Luxury is a lollipop.
Or at least can be.
(And on a side note. Bertille Laguet and Mathieu Rohrer are graduates of ECAL/University of Art & Design Lausanne, an institution that once really got our goat with their Master of Advanced Studies in Luxury Industry & Design. Perhaps the powers that be in Lausanne should ask Bertille + Mathieu to take a class next semester....... )
