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Opulent affair
Amid sparkling jewels, gleaming cars and polished silver, the economic crisis seemed a distant memory at the fifth annual ‘Luxury, please’ fair in Vienna this weekend.
Amid sparkling jewels, gleaming cars and polished silver, the economic crisis seemed a distant memory at the fifth annual ‘Luxury, please’ fair in Vienna this weekend.
Big international brands such as Cartier, Rolls Royce, Donna Karan and Aston Martin, and local manufacturers, filled the already grand rooms of the Imperial Palace, an appropriate setting if ever there was one.
Up a sweeping staircase and into halls lit by dozens of chandeliers, exhibitors displayed their finest, most expensive, and sometimes most eccentric goods.
A wooden bathtub, developed with Formula One technology according to its creator, was fetching upwards of 20,000 euros.
A glass table resting on two tree stumps, complete with leaves, cost between 30,000-40,000 euros. But despite all the glitz, the organisers were keen to emphasise that not all revolved around a hefty price tag.
“I think the thing about luxury is that it’s something special, something other than the ordinary,” the founder of the fair Gerhard Krisp said. “But that's not always shown in the price, it's also an idea, a feeling.”