We asked Duet Design Group principal, Devon Tobin, for her thoughts on the essence of luxury. Here, an edited version of her answer.
See what our other Duet colleagues say about luxury this month on our Instagram stories.
Luxury creates an actual experience. It’s not a thing, exactly. The feel of that fabric, the taste of that food, how the light comes out of that fixture—they’re all experiences that feel elevated and luxurious, but each one of those experiences is subjective. What you deem to be luxurious depends on your season of life, your preferences, your ideas, your tastes.
I’ll give you an example: My mom, sister, and I got on a yearly girls’ trip together, always to a health spa. These spas are destinations based on desirable locations, and the properties themselves—the rooms and interiors—tend to be very bare, very sparse. But I think of them as lavishly luxurious because of the sensory experiences they offer: The sheets are the softest I’ve ever felt, and the towels are like clouds. The service is exquisite. The staff know what you need before you have even thought of it.
Similarly, when someone says, “This house feels luxurious to me,” they don’t necessarily mean elegant or extravagant. They mean something more personally satisfying. Elegance is like supreme beauty; extravagance is a kind of over-the-top, almost ostentatious kind of presentation. For example, an elegant room might have mohair sofas, but mohair is the dumbest fabric of all time! Nobody likes the feeling of mohair. It’s bristly and pokey and uncomfortable. For me, velvet is luxurious. I could sit on velvet all day long. But my son is averse to velvet, so he wouldn’t experience it as luxurious. Whatever feels like an elevated experience to you is luxury to you.
I also think of luxury as understated. My brothers always say that my personal homes are small, but they’re always very luxurious. My family loves coming to my house because I make little sanctuaries. They’re relaxing. Luxury doesn’t have a brand. If it’s truly elevated design, it doesn’t need a stamped brand all over it.
I’ve been a designer for 18 years, and a business owner for 13. In my first 10 years in this industry, we were trying to help Denver understand the value of high-quality interior design services. In Colorado, ideas of luxury might have been more aesthetically similar: Maybe you assumed that luxury had to look a specific way. As Colorado’s design scene grew and as we saw more demand for truly bespoke interiors, I had more and more clients interested in a level of luxury that they defined. And then, of course, the pandemic hit, and we all got a lesson in how important our homes are. People realized that they need spaces where they can function, and if a person’s idea of luxury is an ergonomic desk chair from Design Within Reach, then the desk chair is a worthwhile investment. I’ve seen more people take investment in their own comfort at home much more seriously in the last four or five years.
Which brings up my last point: We tend to equate luxury with stuffiness and expense. Luxury does require good design, and good design costs money. This was true when I started 18 years ago, and it’s still true today. But you don’t have to be the 1% to experience luxury. Sometimes I buy from off-the-shelf stores like CB2 and West Elm, but I also buy the highest-quality, nicest sheets I can find for my family and my guests.
It’s important to me that people I love slide into bed at night and think, “Ohhh, this feels so good.” Luxury is sensory, and that lovely experience at the end of the day is my way of taking care of my people.
