Conference

This is not another academic and industry gathering celebrating heritage and craftsmanship; it is an interrogation.

Time to Change is a collaboration between Ravensbourne University London and Goldsmiths, University of London, and will be hosted across both institutions. Day One will take place at Ravensbourne, and Day Two will be held at Goldsmiths.

Time to Change confronts luxury at a moment of reckoning. This is not another academic and industry gathering celebrating heritage and craftsmanship; it is an interrogation. Building on IPOL 2025’s Honest Luxury, which exposed the exploitation, extraction, and ethical compromises behind luxury branded objects and services, 2026 asks what comes next.

Can luxury transform, or is it structurally incapable of meaningful change? We convene scholars, makers, critics, activists, and industry specialists to challenge Eurocentric paradigms, dismantle inherited hierarchies, and question whether luxury deserves a future at all. This is a space for uncomfortable truths, radical alternatives, and genuine debate. If luxury will not change now, in the face of climate crisis and extreme inequality, then when—and if not through this generation of thinkers and makers, then who?

Luxury is at a crossroads. Geopolitical shifts, environmental urgencies, and evolving cultural values are dismantling old certainties. Heritage, exclusivity, and European dominance—once unquestioned pillars of luxury—are now sites of critical scrutiny. What was once aspirational is increasingly seen as morally fraught.

At IPOL 2025, Honest Luxury laid bare contradictions at the heart of the industry: exploitation masked by elegance, greenwashing cloaked in brand narratives, and colonial residues woven into the fabric of legacy brands. But exposure is not enough. Time to Change moves from critique to confrontation and asks how luxury must be reimagined—or abandoned—if it is to have any ethical legitimacy in the future.

Find Us:

Ravensbourne University, London – 6 Penrose Way, London SE10 0EW

Goldsmiths, University of London – 8 Lewisham Way, London SE14 6NW

Schedule

The Conversation Curatorial Team

**Prof Shaun Borstrock PhD FRSA**
*Conversation Curator · Founder, IPOL*, *Editor Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal*.

**Guido Dal Pozzo**
*Conversation* Curator, Associate Editor Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal

**Manuel Polanco**
*Conversation* Curator, Associate Editor Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal

**Dr Kelly Meng**
*Conversation* Curator, Editor Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal

Panel Curators

Dr Dusica Lehmann
Conversation Curator –Day 1 — The Transparency Paradox – panel discussion

**Julian Vogel**
*Conversation* Curator– *Day 1 — Communicating Luxury Today* – *panel discussion · Founder, ModusBPCM*

**Dr Fabio Duma**
*Conversation* Curator – *Day 2 — Resonance and the Future of the Human in Luxury* – panel discussion

Keynote — Day 1, Ravensbourne
Speaker, In Conversation with…

**Dr Brett Staniland**
*Fashion Writer, Academic, Activist and Model*
Inst:@twinbrett

Sam Bompas
Co-founder, Bompas & Parr – bompasandparr.com

Panel Discussion — Day 1, Ravensbourne
The Transparency Paradox

Dr Dusica Lehmann
Conversation Curator
Luxury Strategist and Researcher
Panel Curator

**Olivier Gaud**
CEO *TAOS*
taoswatches.com/

**Nathalie Morrison**
Founder *Astrea London*
astrealondon.com/

**Daniela Dufour**
Phillipe *Dufour*
philippedufour.ch/

Panel Discussion — Day 1, Ravensbourne
Communicating Luxury Today

**Julian Vogel**
*Conversation* Curator
*Founder, ModusBPCM* modusbpcm.com/
Panel Curator

**Jaye Thompson**
*Founder and CEO, Thompson Communications* thompsoncomms.co.uk/

**Patrick McDowell**
*Founder, Patrick McDowell* patrickmcdowell.co.uk/

**Jessica Burrell**
*Lifestyle Editor* www.standard.co.uk

Academic Paper Session — Day 1, Ravensbourne
Authority, Power and the Architecture of Value

**Fabian Faurholt Csaba**
Copenhagen Business School — *Revaluing Luxury: Value, Authority and the Global Luxury System*

**Prof Yasmin K Sekhon Dhillon**
University of Southampton — *From Inheritance to Interrogation: Children, Generational Change, and the Decolonisation of Luxury*

**Monica Macias Bindang**
*London College of Fashion, UAL — Who Defines Luxury? Authority, Universality, and the Politics of Change*

**Alice Guzzetti**
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore / Burgundy School of Business — Orchestrating Luxury Innovation: A Network Analysis of Technology Adoption and Supply Chain Dynamics in Fashion-Tech Accelerators

**Valeria Belvedere**
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore / Burgundy School of Business — Orchestrating Luxury Innovation: A Network Analysis of Technology Adoption and Supply Chain Dynamics in Fashion-Tech Accelerators

**Glyn Atwal**
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore / Burgundy School of Business — Orchestrating Luxury Innovation: A Network Analysis of Technology Adoption and Supply Chain Dynamics in Fashion-Tech Accelerators

Panel Discussion — Day 2, Goldsmiths
Who Makes Luxury?

**Dr Kelly Meng**
*Conversation* Curator, Editor Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal. Panel Curator

**Timur Kamalov**
*MD & CEO, Teplo* – teplo.world

**Charos Kamalova**
*Creative Director, Teplo* –
teplo.world

**Yiran Duan**
*Founder, Yi Crafts* – yicrafts.com/

**Bidisha Sinha**
Associate Director
*ZHA Architects* – zha.com/

Academic Paper Session – Day 2, Goldsmiths
Bodies, Publics and the Craft of Luxury Experience

**Dr Debbie Coney**
Winchester School of Art, Southampton — *The Optimised Body: Embodied Luxury and the Pursuit of Peak Performance*

**Dr Oonagh O’Hagan**
Central Saint Martins / UAL — *Incentive Aesthetics and Fashion Methadone: Luxury Without the Toxicity*

**Mamta Reid**
Glion Institute of Higher Education — *The Limits of Prestige: Symbolic Capital, Belonging, and Bicultural Generation Z Workers in Tokyo’s Luxury Restaurants*

**Dr Estelle Dinh**
Glion Institute of Higher Education — *The Limits of Prestige: Symbolic Capital, Belonging, and Bicultural Generation Z Workers in Tokyo’s Luxury Restaurants*

**Dr Charles A. Lawry**
Emlyon business school — *Luxury and Art Publics: Artification or Hype?*

Panel Discussion: Longevity — Day 2, Goldsmiths
Do Luxury Brands Deliver on Their Promises?

**Prof Shaun Borstrock PhD FRSA**
*Conversation* Curator · Founder, IPOL, *Editor Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal*. Panel Curator

**Gemma Metheringham**
*Founder, The Elephant in my Wardrobe* – Inst: @the_elephant_in_my_wardrobe

**Maria Grachvogel**
*Fashion Designer & Founder* – mariagrachvogel.com/

**Noah Bier**
*Designer, Maker & Founder* – makerscabinet.com/

Panel Discussion — Day 2, Goldsmiths
Health and Wellbeing – Resonance and the Future of the Human in Luxury

**Dr Fabio Duma**
*Conversation* Curator
Luxury strategist and Coach
Panel Curator
https://www.fabioduma.com/

**Fabian Messer**
Founder Ferus
*www.fer.us*

**Jane Wu**
*Founder & CEO Ruihe* Longevity Group
https://ruihe.ch

Schedule

Supported by:

Conference

The IPOL 2021 conference focused on ‘Luxury in the Age of Technology’. The virtual event hosted speakers including internationally renowned designer Maria Grachvogel, Lydia Slater, Editor in Chief at Harper’s Bazaar, Kevin Bethune, Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Dreams. Design + Life, and Alireza Parandian, Head of Global Business Strategy Wearables at Materalise.

We also hosted a variety of academic and industry panel debates exploring topics such as ‘Luxury and the circular economy’, ‘Visionary women’, Luxury and innovation, Luxury and technology and ‘Democratised Luxury’.

Politecnico di Milano, Materialise, Intellect Books, Design Observer, and All Saints supported the event.

The conference explored the role of technology in the creation of luxury experiences and products, through both an industry focused and academic lens.

The 2021 IPOL conference was held in collaboration with FiP – Fashion in Process, research laboratory at Design Department – Politecnico di Milano / co-chaired by Associate Professor, Dr Chiara Colombi

Our key questions for IPOL 2021 were:

How is the luxury market changing?
How is technology impacting on this change?
How are luxury corporations adopting technology?
How can innovation and technology play a strategic role in implementing a circular economic model?
What is innovation?
Why innovate?

Our four themes:

Luxury and Technology

This theme addresses technologies which impact on luxury, in terms of adoption, data acquisition, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and social media.

Luxury and Innovation

How does innovation affect/impact/alter our experience and understanding of what constitutes luxury, including changes to the retail environment (physical and online), new forms of communication, branding, manufacture, materials, and craftsmanship.

Democratised Luxury

Consideration of democratised luxury will include collaboration, supply chain, branding, the retail environment.

Luxury and the Circular Economy

Issues of social responsibility will inform this theme, including materials, distribution, manufacture, and the ethics and practices of sustainable luxury.

Conference

What Next takes a tour of our two Special Issue journals; Producing Luxury and the Space of Luxury. The authors discuss and debate their articles and whether anything has changed in the ever-changing world of luxury since publication, and of course what next?

Our symposium also marks a milestone in luxury publications. Christopher Berry’s seminal monograph, The Idea of Luxury is marking its 25th year since it was first published. To mark this occasion Chris will be sharing his thoughts on luxury in all its guises. A 25 year reflection.

Chris will also be in conversation with Father Andrew O’Connor discussing the vice and virtue of luxury. They will discuss luxury as a concept and the ethical and moral questions surrounding it. They will also address topics such as sustainability, waste, conspicuous consumption, the role of technology and innovation, and social justice.

The “In Conversation” and panel discussions will be followed by a question and answer session.

The price of the ticket includes entry to the symposium and one copy of one of our Special Issue Journals. At time of booking select which issue you would like to receive.

Conference

This year’s theme is focused on luxury, sustainability and waste with particular attention to the history of luxury, craft and the handmade, materials, sourcing and production, eco-design, consumption and consumer attitudes, the retail environment, technology, re-purposing, re-use and re-framing, branding, marketing and communications, and fashion film.

The 2018 conference provides a platform to examine and expand our understanding of luxury within the sustainable context. By inviting contributions from various disciplines, we aim at generating a lively debate on the past, present, and future of luxury.

For the first time, we’ve welcomed submissions of fashion films that explore luxury through visual storytelling and look forward to this engaging media as part of the conference. The aim of the conference is to explore the concept of luxury from a variety of perspectives.

Delegates come from a global constituency and bring a correspondingly wide range of perspectives to the subject. The conference also provides an interdisciplinary forum to examine the subject of luxury and delegates come from the disciplines of design, history, cultural studies, retail, architecture, business, communication studies, marketing and economics.

Within the conference we welcome debate on what luxury means on an individual, social and cultural level. Can this be enhanced through consumption, and if so how do we deal with materials in a way that aspires to zero environmental impact? The implications of circular economies, supply chains and a reassessment of the actual value of materials, are considered in the context of luxury. Why for example, are diamonds more valuable than recycled plastic? We have kept it focused to provide all attendees with the opportunity to have discussions and engage with the presenters and panel members in an open forum.

Our goal beyond the conference is to continue to build a network of academics and industry practitioners, and to continue this important dialogue in a peer reviewed publication, and new research projects and initiatives which will help shape the form of the fourth international In Pursuit of Luxury conference. We would like to thank Ruth Prowse, School of Art, Idiom and Spier for hosting us. We hope that you enjoy the conference and that our mutual interests in the subject of luxury will provide a springboard for further debate and research.

Dr Shaun Borstrock, Dr Silvio Carta and Dr Veronica Manlow

Conference

This year’s theme is focused on academic and commercial perspectives on luxury with particular attention to craftsmanship, the luxury retail environment, technology and theoretical approaches to luxury. The aim of the conference is to explore the concept of luxury from a variety of academic and commercial perspectives.

While we know a great deal about luxury management within the creative industries from the corporate standpoint, far less is known about the conditions, experiences and challenges surrounding the creation and production of luxury by designers, crafts persons, and factory workers. Our knowledge of the experiences and constraints placed on those who work in sales and management within retail environments is also largely invisible to those outside this domain.

Our delegates will bring these perspectives to life and in doing so we will learn a great deal about how work is structured, the hierarchies in place, and ways in which we may rethink ideas surrounding luxury. Our international industry and academic delegates from a variety of disciplines and sectors bring a wide range of perspectives to the subject of luxury and will address key questions concerning the history of luxury as a concept, practice and product; luxury as a craft; and, luxury a force in the global economy, taking on forms ranging from the non-profit benefice to the conglomerate.

These questions related to the meaning of luxury, its evolution, the reality of luxury today and its future direction will be explored in the six themes selected for the conference:

Craft and design
Cultural capital, work and production
Sustainability
The luxury retail environment
Contemporary notion of luxury
Technology

For this year’s conference, we have deliberately changed the format and kept it small to provide all attendees with the opportunity to have discussions and engage with the presenters and panel members in an open forum. Our goal beyond the conference is to build a network that is sustainable and to continue this important dialogue both in a special issue of a journal, a book with chapters written by the delegates, and new research projects and initiatives which will help shape the form of the third international In Pursuit of Luxury conference.

We would like to thank Jacqui Jenkins, Dean of Graduate Studies for her enthusiasm and kind use of LIM to host the conference. We would also like to thank her for offering her expertise in the subject to host the industry panel on the future of luxury. We hope that you enjoy the conference and that our mutual interests in the subject of luxury will provide a springboard for further debate and research.

Dr Shaun Borstrock and Dr Veronica Manlow

Conference

The IPOL 2023 conference, Luxury Endanged was held online in The Bargehouse, Oxo Tower in London from 1-3 June 2023.

Organisers

Keynote Speaker

Theo Fennell – Jeweller

Theo Fennell is acknowledged as one of today’s premier design led jewellers. His unique jewellery and silverware are distinctive and inspirational. His style combines modern design with classical tradition making it instantly recognisable.

Speakers

**Gordon Ritchie**
Managing Director – Crombie

Luxury Endangered

What makes an object a luxury product?

Is the work of an artisan or craftsperson essential to the creation of luxury? Can luxury by definition be produced in an industrial process, or must we take into account the expertise and knowledge of the maker? Many large scale luxury brands have designers who create an item, whether it is a garment, architectural fixture or interior product. Once these items are designed they are made not by artisans but often by factory workers each responsible for a different aspect of the manufacture.

What features exemplify and extraordinary experience?

Within the world of experiential luxury in flagship stores, restaurants, hotels, in the air, on the road on the sea the standards of service are continually enhanced. What does this mean to the luxury consumer in the real world, and in relation to defying the parameters of a luxury experience?

Luxury endangered will question the notion of luxury as it is currently constituted within a globalised consumer market where luxury brand narratives dominate. Within this configuration the specific skills of a craftsperson are commodified as are the services.

What informs our decision making around criteria used to classify luxury goods and services? Working in collaboration we will expand our understanding to articulate parameters that constitute luxury. These conversations will be engaging, challenging and undoubtably contentious. Our interest is to bring about change through these conversation.

Supported by:

Conference

The IPOL 2022 conference, Crafting Luxury was held online in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 May 2022.

Organisers

We take a cross disciplinary approach and consider and question the way in which luxury is defined today with respect to design, fashion, the retail environment, technology, architecture, craftsmanship, product design, the circular economy, big data and eco-design. We take a fresh, global approach, and work collaboratively, removing the silos that exist within disciplines whether they be located within academia or the commercial sector.

The idea of luxury has secured a place in contemporary western culture and the term is now part of the common parlance, in both established and emerging economies. In anticipation of the publication of Crafting Luxury a book authored by Mark Bloomfield, Shaun Borstrock, Silvio Carta and Veronica Manlow that explores the many issues and debates surrounding the idea of luxury, the conference will continue to explore themes addressed in the book adding to our existing knowledge and furthering the debate on luxury.

The conference explored the many issues and debates surrounding the idea of luxury. The contemporary concept of luxury has been influenced by historical and social factors. These include when and where the concept of luxury emerged, its evolution in a variety of contexts, and its complex material history as an object of beauty, desire and commerce. Each of these facets has impacted contemporary definitions of luxury which in turn influence practices by a variety of agents.

While luxury has long been a marker of social status and class, luxury does not necessarily have to remain in the preserve of the few who are able to afford rare objects. The factors which contribute to an object or experience being defined as luxury have expanded. While traditionally high quality materials, craftsmanship and exclusivity were requisite features of luxury, more recently we have seen that mass-produced products have attained luxury status, sometimes entirely through branding and promotional strategies.

In a global context, where consumption is increasing exponentially at the same time as the world’s resources are diminishing, luxurious consumption can be seen as politically and/or ethically suspect. The political implications of conspicuous consumption take on greater resonance.

What is the future of luxury in a world beset with financial turmoil, characterized by an increasing gap between the rich and the poor? A new movement has begun whereby quality handcrafted items, one off or made in small batches, are available to a larger audience at more accessible prices outside of a corporate context. Can these objects be classified as luxury or do they fall into the realm of craft? We look to explore too the role of the maker which has often been invisible or mythologized.

The conference also considered the industry structures with respect to production as well as the hierarchies that exist and the impact these have on both internal and external perceptions of luxury from the makers to the sellers and consumers alike. Further attention will be given to the working structures of the ateliers, production facilities, origins of materials and manufacture and the impact of technology on consumption, manufacture and sales providing a true insider’s view of this complex world.

This work addresses contentious issues surrounding perceptions of luxury, its relationship to contemporary branding as created by the marketers and the impact this has on the consumer and their purchasing habits.

Themes and Strands

This conference intends to expand the parameters of the debate around the concepts of luxury to provide a refreshing context to construe the familiar debates surrounding the subject. Indicative themes for the conference are:

Craftsmanship – The hand of the maker.
Technology – Tools of the trade: data, artificial intelligence, machine learning.
The Retail Environment – Shopping, space, virtual reality and the consumer.
Contemporary Notions of Luxury – The changing luxury spectrum.
Social Responsibility, Eco-design and the Circular Economy – Waste, eco-thinking and luxury contradictions.
The Supply Chain and Big Data – Exclusivity and mass production, the luxury Conundrum.
Industry Perspectives – The Future of Luxury.

Politecnico di Milano, Materialise, Intellect Books, Design Observer, and All Saints supported the event.

The conference explored the role of technology in the creation of luxury experiences and products, through both an industry focused and academic lens.

The 2022 IPOL conference was held in collaboration with FiP – Fashion in Process, research laboratory at Design Department – Politecnico di Milano / co-chaired by Associate Professor, Dr Chiara Colombi