The Luxury Alchemist

Offering an insider's view of the inner workings of the luxury world, The Luxury Alchemist is the ultimate guide for anyone aspiring to create or grow their own luxury brand. With an in-depth analysis of the ever-evolving luxury market to the Magic Ingredients needed to launch a luxury brand, this title features intriguing stories and anecdotes from leading companies and revered names. From Hermès, Daniel Boulud, Vera Wang, and Loro Piana to Burberry, John Hardy, J. Mendel, and Reem Acra, Maisonrouge meticulously leads readers through the strategies that these successful brands employed in order to make it to the top. A second section takes readers through two up-and-coming startups, Savelli and Virgin Galactic.

This is a book about discovery and disaster, exploitation and invention, warfare and science - and the relationship between human beings and the chemical elements that make up our planet. Lars Ohrstrom introduces us to a variety of elements from S to Pb through tales of ordinary and extraordinary people from around the globe. We meet African dictators controlling vital supplies of uranium; eighteenth-century explorers searching out sources of precious metals; industrial spies stealing the secrets of steel-making. We find out why the Hindenburg airship was tragically filled with hydrogen, not helium; why nail-varnish remover played a key part in World War I; and the real story behind the legend of tin buttons and the downfall of Napoleon. In each chapter, we find out about the distinctive properties of each element and the concepts and principles that have enabled scientists to put it to practical use. These are the fascinating (and sometimes terrifying) stories of chemistry in action.

Over a thousand years ago, the Persian physician and chemist Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi presented his students with a book of alchemy instructions called the Kitab al-Asrar or Book of Secrets. For over seven hundred years this systematic text on managing chemicals, equipment, and procedures was copied and imitated throughout Europe. Using historian Julius Ruska's authoritative German translation, this book presents al-Razi's Book of Secrets in English for the first time and analyzes it from the perspective of a modern scientific laboratory. The Kitab al-Asrar offers a view into the understanding of chemistry and procedure organization in the tenth-century Islamic world. Yet a careful reading yields even more than that. As a laboratory manual, it gives intriguing clues into Persian culture under the Abbasid caliphate: the relationship of teacher and student; attitudes toward safety, labor, and quantification; tools and logical problem-solving; commerce and the availability of luxury goods; and the value of the written word. This is the Kitab al-Asrar.

Offering an original contribution to the field of luxury and fashion studies, this edited collection takes a philosophical perspective, addressing the idea that humans need luxury. From this framework it delves deep into two particular dimensions of luxury, emotions and society, and concludes with cases of brand building in order to illustrate the two dimensions at work. Comparative analysis between countries is brought together with an emphasis on China. Chapters address the ongoing growth in the market, as well as the significant changes in the sector brought about by fast international expansion and an increased focus on ethical supply and sustainability, making the book an insightful read for scholars of fashion business, luxury and branding.

This book highlights different roles in entrepreneurship and innovation, based on the act of setting up a new venture in the area of sustainable luxury and fashion, which also involves cognitive and motivational characteristics. It also discusses the fact that many sustainability-promoting innovations require substantial technological advances.

This book presents and analyzes aspects that, within the framework of luxury, have been or are currently being redefined by sustainability considerations. It also presents and reviews cases from industry and entrepreneurs in connection with this ongoing redefinition process.

Why the luxury market's fate rests in Chinese wallets The media has negatively focused on the Chinese politicaladministration clamping down on gifting. Observers have come todoubt the strength of Chinese consumption as the key driver forluxury. The Bling Dynasty illustrates how doubts aboutChinese consumption are ill-founded and Chinese luxury demand is onthe cusp of becoming dominant. This book contains the research and expert views companies needto understand and address the new challenges posed by thisdominance. Each chapter brings a different perspective, coveringcomplex aspects of luxury consumption, with illustrations andreal-world examples that support the research. Readers will gaininsights through interviews with brand executives, retailers,experts, and consumers. As an economic heavyweight, China is fast realizing its role inthe luxury market. Chinese consumers should be accounting for morethan a third of the global luxury market today, and half, if notmore, in ten year's time. The Bling Dynasty runs counter tothe conventional wisdom that expanding sectors become more global.Luxury is actually becoming over-dependent on Chinese sales. Readers will: Understand how Western brands developed in Asia and thechallenges they are met with, notably ubiquity Learn why Chinese are purchasing luxury items abroad and whatit means for the future of the sector Gain insights on why there are no Chinese luxury brandschallenging Western models Realize that Chinese consumers are becoming similar to theirAmerican peers and that luxury competition goes way beyondpre-conceptions China's big spenders are increasingly mobile and this isaffecting key markets. The Bling Dynasty provides newresearch and a comprehensive look at the booming business of luxuryand the Chinese wallet.