Winchester Luxury Research Group in the News

Established in 2014, the Winchester Luxury Research Group (WLRG), which makes its home at the Winchester School of Art, undertakes leading edge investigations into the social, cultural and economic impact of luxury. The members of the WLRG engage in research that recognises the artistic and cultural aspects of luxury in the contemporary globalised world.

This research is now reaching out into the wider world of Luxury journalism and the latest instance is a recent article published by TechRepublic discussing the advent of more exclusive and expensive mobile phones for those who need some Luxury along with their apps and texts.

WSA’s Professor Joanne Roberts who is Director of the WLRG was interviewed for the article, and many ideas of it are an outgrowth of an article published by her and her colleague, Professor John Armitage, another prominent researcher in the field of Luxury, entitled 'Luxury new media: euphoria in unhappiness.' in Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption, issue 1.

TechRepublic's article raises the interesting issue of whether having a diamond-encrusted, 24-carat phone is any more ridiculous than the average person’s willingness to treat their technology as disposable.

You can read the full article here and information about the Winchester Luxury Research Group can be found here.