Sustainable Luxury: Sustainable crafts in a redefined concept of luxury from contextual approach to case study

Abstract

Facing issues of sustainability, contemporary crafts have attempted to find a solution to facilitate more sustainable consumption. This study aims to investigate crafts within a redefined concept of luxury that can foster sustainable crafts.

First, this study redefines luxury in terms of sustainability as contributing to a better lifestyle experience. That is, sustainable luxury improves consumers’ lifestyles toward a more enjoyable, socially and ecologically sustainable mode of consumption aimed toward the good life. Based on Soper’s theory of alternative hedonism as a way of conceptualizing consumption differently - from the self-interested perspective of pleasure satisfaction, to the wider issues of sustainable consumption which contribute to a collective good - this study reinforces the theoretical background of critical socio-cultural and economic perspectives that support a repositioning of contemporary crafts centred on consumers’ values.

Second, this study redirects sustainable luxury from within the craft ethos. Recently, industrial models combined with craft have gravitated more toward design, particularly in creating products for niche luxury markets manifesting sustainable values aiming toward well-designed, ecologically and socially responsible, long-lasting products, as opposed to what we are faced with today. In this paper, the transferable craft ethos in design is investigated through perspectives of valuations toward high quality goods, of empathic elements, of finding solutions from the fundamental philosophy of craft, and of crafts(wo) manship, through a case study of the Finnish ceramics company Pentik.

The paper highlights that craft entrepreneurships’ survival depends on systems toward authenticity, personalisation, and more sustainable hedonistic experiences with crafts for crafts-consumers.

Last, this paper explores where ‘luxury’ and ‘value’ meet craft from post-consumerist perspectives, which do not simply regard luxury as targets of conspicuous consumption, but rather as a better life choice. Additionally, in similar contexts originating from the phenomena of conspicuous consumption, ‘rarity’ and ‘scarcity’ need not retain their elitist gloss from the past, but can contribute to comparative measures for assessing a product’s level of quality and provide a uniqueness factor that may be crucial to one’s conceptions of self-identity.  In the last part, an analysis is given of a case study in which crafts are reconceptualised as appropriate candidates for sustainable luxury, as well as of first-hand experiences in the jewellery field. We found that alternative hedonistic perspectives for sustainable luxury crafts include their personalisable aspects, their high-quality finish and expanded lifespan, and their intimate relationships with makers and co-crafters, which all add extra value to and contribute to new pleasurable experiences of the product.

This study concludes that crafts can be located within sustainable luxury based upon sustainable, alternative hedonistic principles that encourage a higher quality life in crafts’ everyday uses, while also utilising segmented targeting and focusing on individual and personal tastes.