Lujo y diseño

Giovanni Cutolo reflects on the cultural effects of design on the structures of its distribution and on the habits and ways of its consumption. And then a new consumer comes out, who is well-informed and cultured, the “virtuous hedonist.” This new consumer of design has enough self-confidence to organize his wishes, thus he creates value through his capability to select among the tangle of banal products offered in the market. A value that can be measured by the influence the consumer has on retailers, designers and producers. Under this unusual circumstance, where the clever consumer is that who “designs” his consumption and has the power to affect the offer, the present book represents a meaningful step. It is here where the notion of luxury turns up: design has replaced the social function that art and crafts held in preindustrial times: the relationship between design and beauty, the construction of taste and a new type of luxury. A luxury that is ever more immaterial, more cultural (the luxury of silence, of nature, of what is simple). Maybe more virtuous?