Influx

There’s something interesting going on at the Rough Luxe Hotel in London. It doesn’t conform to any popular luxury archetype, instead it throws together the aesthetic of the raw and real with the ultra modern.

The result is somewhat frenetic and nervous, but it seems to fit exactly with the moment. We secretly want to be enthralled by the flash and brash of the future, but we don’t want it to dominate, we need is something else to balance it.

In the world of Rough Luxe, that balance comes from the worn, old and used patinas.

We are at a moment in time where we are questioning everything that used to represent a flashy future because it didn’t deliver. It’s a representation of an extreme lifestyle that in hindsight wasn’t for the best. The totems and icons reflecting that culture are now slowly being covered up and put away. You hear stories about Wall St bankers no longer dressing up in designer suits and instead looking to blend in when they walk the streets of Manhattan. Simply put, they don’t like the signals any more.

It looks as if Rough Luxe could be more than a simple aesthetic play.

The past:future hybrid is an interesting one to consider for brands searching for balance and especially those with a history.

It gives rise to a couple of questions:

1. Can they put one foot in both camps?

2. Can they provide the reassurance of the past with all its nostalgia and authenticity, together with a restrained eye on the future?

Inspired by Scenario DNA

Posted by Ed Cotton