Walpole publishes Book of British Luxury

The Walpole, an Alliance of 200 of the UK’s finest luxury brands, has published the 2018 Walpole Book of British Luxury.

The book, which offers responses to what British luxury means, features essays from a variety Britain’s most celebrated writers about fashion, lifestyle and the zeitgeist. Below are some of their quotes from the book:

Esquire magazine editor Alex Bilmes states: ‘To be British is to share a collective spirit’ and suggests it can mean being ‘at once a diehard traditionalist and a committed subversive’”.

Lucia van der Post, founding editor of Financial Times How to Spend it, writes about cultural heritage in the setting a luxury agenda, exploring how ‘the myths of British country house style have subliminally shaped the aesthetic thinking of a nation’.

London Craft Week founder Guy Salter argues that the craft renaissance in British luxury is symptomatic of ‘a new, more thoughtful, open-minded and knowledgeable consumer mindset.”

Jessica Fellowes asks what makes Americans, the world’s number one luxury consumers, fall for all things British, and why the ‘lessons of the past can guide us to an ever brighter, better future.’

The 2018 British Luxury Book is the biggest the organisation has published, with 192 pages, including a commissioned cover illustration by 2017 Brand of Tomorrow designer, Rory Dobner.

Walpole is a not-for-profit organisation, funded entirely by a combination of annual member fees and corporate sponsorship.

Formed in 1990 as ‘The Churchill Group’ by top-tier British companies, including British Airways, Chewton Glen, Coutts & Co, DAKS Simpson, the Financial Times, The Savoy Group and William Grant & Sons, the aim of the organisation was to promote British excellence, providing a community for the exchange of best practice ideas to drive business development. In 1992, The Churchill Group became Walpole.

Photo credit: Walpole CEO Helen Brocklebank, source: Walpole website; article source: Walpole