dispatch #6 • luxury, guilty pleasure, glass house
Hi there :) Welcome to dispatch #6.
Deluxe
I just finished reading Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster by Dana Thomas. This book is captivating, and you don't need to be into luxury to enjoy it (in fact, it's probably better to not be).
Moreover, the takeaways from this book can be applied to any industry or job. Here are some of my highlights:
“If you control your factories, you control your quality, ” Arnault explained. “If you control your distribution, you control your image.”
“Product integrity has to be more important than synergies.” Johann Rupert
Now individualism has given way to homogenization, not only among stores within a brand but also among brands themselves. Like Hollywood studios hiring the same handful of bankable stars to lure middle-market audiences to see their blockbuster movies, luxury brands tend to hire the same architects and use the same design tricks to get crowds into the stores. Luxury brands used to be innovative: they were revolutionary in design, they’d come up with something new. Now, they try to avoid leading the way for fear of alienating customers.
“The world is divided into two,” he [Jean-Louis Dumas]pronounced. “Those who know how to use tools and those who do not.”
As always, you can find more highlights on my website.
Guilty Pleasure
What do you think of when you hear "guilty pleasure"? Irene Chung, both an illustrator and journalist, dedicated nearly a year researching this topic, which culminated in a wonderful book. I just got my copy and devoured it in one sitting ;)
The content resonates deeply with me, but even if it didn’t, I would have bought it for the illustrations alone.
Glass House
My mom and I finally visited The Glass House in New Canaan, CT. The Glass House was built by Philip Johnson in 1950s and is one of at least 80 mid-century modern houses in New Canaan.
My learnings / impressions
You can't get to The Glass House directly—you have to go to the visitor center first and then a shuttle will take you from there.
The Glass House is just one of many structures on the property. There's also the Brick House, the Studio, the Painting Gallery, the Sculpture Gallery, and more.
Philip Johnson had a huge inheritance, which allowed him to never compromise his artistic vision. (And that's quite evident).
EVERYTHING is intentional.
Something both my mom and I noticed: there is definitely some dark energy floating around. It's not obvious right away, and the guides don't bring it up during the tour either. However, once you start bringing random pieces together, the overall theme becomes somewhat dismaying.
Regardless of the vibes, I'm happy we went. It's worth a visit.
Bagels
Bonus! I didn't want to end on a dark note, so this is the perfect opportunity to plug our latest bagel reviews:
