What Is Luxury?

What is luxury? This is a question that we often ask ourselves as the stewards of MYLO. We are fortunate to have built products that our customers love and regard as “luxurious.” To keep delivering products that truly feel luxurious and continue exceeding our customers’ expectations, we must first define what luxury means to us.

On the most basic level, luxury can be understood as that which goes beyond mere sufficiency. But in order for a luxury product to be “beyond” sufficiency, not merely different from sufficiency or unnecessary, the product must satisfy the function it is intended to serve. For example, although a luxury car has many more features than a car that merely satisfies the necessity of transportation, the luxury car should still satisfy the function of transporting its passengers. Moreover, the luxury item must exemplify excellence in fulfilling its function, because the state in which an object does not perform its function well but has features non-essential to the fulfillment of its function reflects misplaced priorities, not luxury. Hence, to create products that could be considered “luxury”, we have to, before all else, identify the function of the product (the problem it solves) and strive to solve that problem with excellence.

However, “beyond sufficiency” does not sufficiently characterize luxury, because merely adding something onto an object that serves its function excellently could be superfluous, not luxurious. We distinguish the two conceptually by observing that luxury contains elements of artistry, while superfluity does not. Artistry is guided by a cultivated sensitivity toward qualities we perceive as harmonious, beautiful, or refined. Such sensitivity can exist across various fields, varies in degree across individuals, and can be honed through study, experience, and practice. For example, Humanity shares certain intuitions about what is visually pleasing; those who dedicate themselves to the study and honing of such intuitions could, more generally, be referred to as visual artists, or, more specifically, as painters, sculptors, etc. Similarly, we share intuitions on that which is aromatically harmonious; those who cultivate such sensitivities may apply them in fields such as aromatherapy. Hence, MYLO consists of those who have dedicated themselves to honing their judgment across various forms of artistry, such as the formulation of aromatherapy products, the design of customer experiences, and the styling of packaging. A big part of our work, therefore, is to create an environment within the company that attracts passionate talents who identify themselves as “artists,” and to translate the creative energy within the company into products infused with artistry.

That said, “artistry” is a lofty guidepost, because many philosophies and principles lay claim to “artistry” while being diametrically opposed—for example, Brutalism and Rococo in architecture. So to chart a definite path forward, we have to decide the means with which we wish to achieve artistry. Our team has long admired a category of legendary designs of our age, including Alec Issigonis’s original Mini, James Dyson’s vacuum, Apple’s products and architecture, and Porsche’s 911. All of these designs share the principle that “form follows function”: their forms arise naturally from the purposes they are meant to serve, rather than from decoration applied independently of those purposes. The result is often a degree of elegance derived from simplicity—a sense that everything fits naturally into place and that removing any essential element would make the design incomplete. Such simplicity is often the visible result of having understood and solved a problem deeply enough that unnecessary complexity disappears. Underneath this apparent simplicity can lie tremendous ingenuity. Apple and its suppliers engineered large curved glass panels to make possible the clean architecture of some of its Apple Stores; Dyson designed and produced its own miniaturized motor to make handheld cordless vacuum cleaners possible; and Sir Alec Issigonis engineered a transverse engine that enabled the creation of the Mini. Creating great products through simplicity can be generalized beyond the field of engineering. For example, the material with which an article of luxury clothing is made, such as cashmere or silk, is often relatively simple in the sense that it remains close to its natural form, while more mass-produced garments may rely on highly processed synthetic materials such as polyester. Yet these natural materials are often more difficult to source, select, and handle well. Following in the footsteps of those designers whom we admire, we are committed to creating products whose forms arise from their functions and whose artistry lies in their simplicity. For an essential oils product, this can mean the scent should not be an ornamental layer added to disguise or decorate the formulation; ideally, its aromatic beauty emerges naturally from ingredients selected for the product's purpose. It could also mean the ingredient list of our product is natural and simple, not because we wish to create a “clean product” at the expense of its functionality, but because we have a deep enough understanding of botanical ingredients and extensive experience sourcing high-quality ingredients to create a product that is clean and powerful.

This is what luxury means to us. As an essential oils brand, we are committed to delivering products infused with a sense of artistry, that serve their functions exceptionally well and possess a level of simplicity and elegance made possible by our deep understanding of botanical ingredients. With every purchase, our customers can trust that we have poured our hearts into refining the formulation, ingredients, and customer experience toward this purpose.

– MYLO Team