“Another aspect of luxury that we’re looking for is not necessarily to be on your own singular journey, but to be in community, to see other people with art.”
– Jack Guinness, renowned British Writer, Model and Campaigner
The most coveted luxury of all is the ability to pause—to lose yourself in a moment of ‘slow looking’ that allows for reflection, a powerful counter-narrative to the relentless, hurried scroll of the digital age. “Something does happen when you stand in front of a great work of art. Time slows down. You have a moment with it,” Jack Guiness explained. In this new value system, worth is measured by the emotional resonance and feeling delivered to the individual.
Crucially, this shift is inextricably linked to the rising power of community. Art emerges as a vital, restorative force, a necessary antidote to the isolation of ‘singular journeys’ and a potent vehicle for human connection. The future of luxury is communal, transforming the creative process itself into an act of collaboration that empowers the audience and encourages a genuine self-acceptance.
For the hospitality sector, this mandates a commitment to inspired curation and transparent narrative. Learning from the world of art, hotels must look beyond amenity to craft compelling experiential programmes and master a delicate balance between familiarity and surprise. Finally, a significant challenge looms with the rise of AI: the collapse of trust in the image’s veracity now obliges all creators to actively explain and underwrite their work and mission, embedding a new level of required authenticity in all high-end endeavours.
“I feel so good about an exhibition I’ve curated if I look into it and I see people stopping in front of the work and engaging in what we call slow looking.”
– Julien Domercq, Curator, Royal Academy of Arts
“I always want people to feel that they’ve got the luxury of time when standing in front of my work, underneath my work, holding my work, or taking part in my workshops. And that, for me, is that style of well -being, that luxurious time to really focus on yourself. It’s not often that you get the time to do that, do you?”
– Sadie Clayton, Artist, Cultural Tastemaker & Broadcaster
