Inside Luxury – Meet the makers

We love the way the luxury brands like LVMH and Burberry are opening themselves up to their customers. It’s no longer about a ‘magic box’ inside a business that no one knows about. It’s about welcoming in people to show the care and passion that goes into a brand’s products. In an age of commoditised products this is how luxury brands help justify the price tag. It’s no longer made in China, more like made by Pascale. It’s time property brands started showcasing the craftsmen behind their products opposed to flat floor plans and CGI’s. Where’s the love?

The initiatives trade on the considerable consumer appetite for insight into brands' inner worlds – a taste driven by the connectivity of social media.

Hermes's video, promised to be the first in a series, reveals the creative processes of its sustainable line Petit h – a division launched in 2013 that upcycles the company's own materials to make new products. Dubbed Food for thought, the footage shows several in-house designers pitching new product ideas, such as lightweight bowls made from leftover silk, to Petit h's artistic director Pascale Mussard and her team.

The video is viewable on its ecommerce site and social media channels. Meanwhile, Fornasetti has launched a permanent section on its ecommerce site titled 'Atelier', allowing shoppers to navigate a 10storey house. Each floor showcases different studio processes such as printing, woodworking

and archiving in the form of short videos. To encourage repeat visits, a new floor is 'unlocked' each day. Maximising exposure, the experience has also been extended to Instagram? the house appears in the two right hand columns of tiles, while the corresponding videos sit on the left.