POPULUXE

Tobias Meinecke is a story teller.  Critically acclaimed filmmaker, sought after film director of creative projects for luxury brands, writer, actor, and, most recently, book publisher, Tobias Meinecke is the co-founder of Love Child , a company that develops stories. Tobias studied in Munich first and then in New York City, at Columbia University, under the tutelage of master teacher Milos Forman...

A pair of Nike running sneakers and a flat screen TV were two of the objects that Chris Santa Maria presented to me as possible conversation starters. Well, that's not how this episode went... and admittedly, it is longer than usual. Do listen till the end of the whole 45 minutes because you will learn about the mighty power of a Princeton brush and the extraordinary details of often harmful...

For the most part, women have been left out of history regardless of the weight of their contributions to science, the arts, design and any related field. These forgotten creative minds need champions. Kathleen Guzman, a most accomplished auctioneer, happens to be a supporter of other women's work both historical and contemporary. Having spent her professional career, in its many iterations,...

No matter what Matt Chu decides to do, he excels at it. Data analytics at Condé Nast? Check! Influencer account on Instagram ? Triple check! Corporate career at Bloomingdale's? Easy! A new path in technology? Why not? I have always admired Matt for his pragmatism and dedication to anything that catches his interest. But mostly, I am totally smitten with his kindness. Take a listen to his rath...

Echo New York (originally Echo Design) is a family-run company founded in New York City in 1923 by two ambitious, hard working, young entrepreneurs who also happened to be husband and wife. Today, their great-grandchildren are still in charge of and growing the company with great commitment to the values of quality and creativity.  Making people's lives meaningful through its products is Echo...

How does one get from admiring a glass object by sculptor Joe Cariati to discussing the merits of an exquisite cashmere sweater? Well, that's easy when you spend  a few minutes with Steve Cardino , a former Macy's Vice President Home and Fashion Director, who currently represents the Fifth Avenue Association Business Improvement District in its relations with merchants along the famed re...

Artists develop a personal discipline that includes daily rituals. It is that type of commitment that allows them to absorb details of materiality, focus on ideas, and resolve the challenge of combining it all in expressive form. This is precisely how some of the most exquisite luxury products resemble works of art. This is also why creatives find a fitting home in the luxury sector where a variet...

The girl who fell in love with Fluffy , her sourdough starter, is actually the woman who kneads stories in her kitchen. She is a filmmaker and her name is Marie.  Marie possesses the type of elegance that allows her to transform the most humble vintage outfit into glamorous fashion. Her vivid imagination pushes her work beyond the boundaries of filmmaking and storytelling. How does she do it and w...

Join me in this episode of Populuxe as I reconnect with my former student and now accomplished architectural photographer Artur Pretto Junqueira. Together, we explore French philosopher René Girard's work on human desire and some of the famous and emerging Brazilian architectural practitioners .  And surprise, surprise! We end up talking about New York City. But how not? This is where our pat...

Legend has it that the Scofflaw, a classic Rye cocktail, was invented by the famous bartender Harry Craddock during the height of Prohibition at Harry's New York Bar in Paris in 1924.  Daphne Howland, Senior Reporter at Retail Dive , discovered it in Portland, Maine where she lives with her family. A talented writer and accomplished photographer, Daphne ruminated on whether it ever gets easie...

Globetrotting? Gratitude? Jaunts to the Global North? Aida Sykes has had the privilege to experience it all based on academic merit and opportunity. As an actively engaged young leader in her native Tanzania she doesn't take any of the aspects of luxury lightly. On the contrary, her own exposure to both the North and South, deep understanding of expressions of inequity, and clear vision of ho...

When Maxwell Gladwell wrote about the "ten-thousand-hour-rule" in his book Outliers , he incorporated earlier research by Herbert Simon and William Chase, who claimed that "there are no instant experts in chess—certainly no instant masters or grandmasters. [...] We would estimate, very roughly, that a master has spent perhaps 10,000 to 50,000 hours staring at chess positions...&quot...

A company visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art  to view the novel paintings of Toyin Ojih Odutola , the celebrated Nigerian--American visual artist whose work challenges the traditions of storytelling through portraiture , led Sarah LaFleur to an inner journey of desire and the meaning of narratives in forming one’s character. Popular fascination with royalty, Sarah ruminates, is a manifest...

Ask any 20 year old who loves sneaker culture what their "dream" job would be and most answers will resemble Brahm's actual job at Sotheby's , where he is Vice President, Head of Streetwear and Modern Collectables. When Brahm was in my class, in the spring of 2019, I sensed he was cool. He knew a lot about brands, always wore interesting sneakers and baseball hats to class, and...

Ambergris is a rare, precious, and quite expensive natural ingredient used in luxury perfume making. It was used much more frequently in the past by luxury brands like Chanel, Dior, and Guerlain, among others. The type of perfume produced with ambergris is considered to be an "animalic" fragrance. It is characterized by longevity, fullness, and balance. Ambergris is indeed one of the mai...

A Zojirushi thermos may be the connector that allows Eric Darton, prolific author of fiction and nonfiction, to download ideas, inspiration and that ineffable jolt of energy that he knows how to transform into words. Follow our discussion to find out what luxury means to him, how he gets in the flow, and why a great quality saw comes only second to his thermos. Eric Darton’s books include Free Cit...

What is it like to be backstage at fashion shows? And which elements of the pre-social media era remain memorable to Sophie Panych from her early years as a beauty editor? An international expert and well-known beauty influencer, Sophie identifies any one of the four iconic camel hair coats by Max Mara as her object of desire. She tells us all about it, where and when she saw it for the first time...

If you love luxury, you will want to visit Populuxe once a week. Our guests are accomplished creatives from a variety of ages, cultures, and professions. Together, we discuss  their object of desire, an object they cherish or one they aspire to acquire. Sometimes these are products by well known luxury brands but they can also be works of art or well-crafted objects that trigger emotions of desire...