Jewellery Between Product
and Experience: Luxury
in the Twenty-First Century
Alba Cappellieri, Livia Tenuta, and Susanna Testa
Abstract In the contemporary scene, identifying a common and shared definition
of what luxury means is ever more difficult and daring. The concept of luxury has
changed over time. For centuries, luxury was intended as a sum of beauty and high
quality pursued by hand-work and linked to physical products. The digital revolution and the widespread of Information and Communication Technologies has had
a significant impact on the global productive system, marking a transition from an
‘analogue’ era to a digital one—and now ‘post-digital’. The paper focuses its investigation in particular on the relationship among jewellery, luxury and sustainability.
Firstly, the contribution analyses the concept of luxury and shows how this is increasingly linked to intangible values, where the preciousness of materials has shifted to
the preciousness of values. Intangible, far from the needs but close to the desires and
dreams of each individual, luxury is seen as the ability to translate the essence of
one’s time into a product. The examination then focuses on the jewellery field, as
one of the most important luxury goods due to its inherent uniqueness and exclusiveness. The entire essay starts from the assumption that giving a univocal definition
of jewellery is impossible because of its value and meaning change according to the
contexts. Jewellery, as well as luxury, is highly defined by the temporal variable and
by the contexts. Today materials are no longer the only characterizing element to
define if a jewellery item belongs to the sphere of luxury. Materials and techniques
are instead design choices, useful to tell a story. For this reason, the paper takes into
consideration examples of high-end jewellery as well as independent brands and
designers who use non-traditional materials for their production. The paper identifies as one of the most important value able to represent the contemporaneity the need
of awareness. Luxury should tell about excellence, and luxury products stained by
the burden of the environmental or social burden cannot be considered as exclusive or
desirable. Environmental and social awareness cannot but be part of the production
and distribution strategies of companies in the sector. The essay analyses through
case studies the different ways for the jewellery sector to promote a sustainable practice. In detail, the first significant grafts for a sustainable supply chain are taken into
A. Cappellieri · L. Tenuta · S. Testa (B)
Politecnico Di Milano, Milan, Italy
e-mail: susanna.testa@polimi.it
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
M. Á. Gardetti and I. Coste-Manière (eds.), Sustainable Luxury and Craftsmanship,
Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3769-1_1
1
and Experience: Luxury
in the Twenty-First Century
Alba Cappellieri, Livia Tenuta, and Susanna Testa
Abstract In the contemporary scene, identifying a common and shared definition
of what luxury means is ever more difficult and daring. The concept of luxury has
changed over time. For centuries, luxury was intended as a sum of beauty and high
quality pursued by hand-work and linked to physical products. The digital revolution and the widespread of Information and Communication Technologies has had
a significant impact on the global productive system, marking a transition from an
‘analogue’ era to a digital one—and now ‘post-digital’. The paper focuses its investigation in particular on the relationship among jewellery, luxury and sustainability.
Firstly, the contribution analyses the concept of luxury and shows how this is increasingly linked to intangible values, where the preciousness of materials has shifted to
the preciousness of values. Intangible, far from the needs but close to the desires and
dreams of each individual, luxury is seen as the ability to translate the essence of
one’s time into a product. The examination then focuses on the jewellery field, as
one of the most important luxury goods due to its inherent uniqueness and exclusiveness. The entire essay starts from the assumption that giving a univocal definition
of jewellery is impossible because of its value and meaning change according to the
contexts. Jewellery, as well as luxury, is highly defined by the temporal variable and
by the contexts. Today materials are no longer the only characterizing element to
define if a jewellery item belongs to the sphere of luxury. Materials and techniques
are instead design choices, useful to tell a story. For this reason, the paper takes into
consideration examples of high-end jewellery as well as independent brands and
designers who use non-traditional materials for their production. The paper identifies as one of the most important value able to represent the contemporaneity the need
of awareness. Luxury should tell about excellence, and luxury products stained by
the burden of the environmental or social burden cannot be considered as exclusive or
desirable. Environmental and social awareness cannot but be part of the production
and distribution strategies of companies in the sector. The essay analyses through
case studies the different ways for the jewellery sector to promote a sustainable practice. In detail, the first significant grafts for a sustainable supply chain are taken into
A. Cappellieri · L. Tenuta · S. Testa (B)
Politecnico Di Milano, Milan, Italy
e-mail: susanna.testa@polimi.it
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
M. Á. Gardetti and I. Coste-Manière (eds.), Sustainable Luxury and Craftsmanship,
Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3769-1_1
1