Beyond Luxury

A luxury publishing co-founder on why a physical book beats fast information every time.
Martine Assouline co-founded Assouline in 1994 with her husband Prosper, starting the house from the basement of their Paris apartment with a first book on La Colombe d'Or, the hotel in the South of France they treated as a second home. Thirty years later, Assouline publishes across seven countries, holds the only trunk partnership Goyard has ever created with an outside brand, and counts Roger Federer among the subjects who trusted the house with his visual biography. Their son Alexandre now runs the company as president.
In this episode, Martine walks through how an Assouline book actually gets made, from a title on surrealism she had to kill over copyright costs to the discipline she calls "eating culture." She talks taste, AI, succession, craftsmanship, and what luxury will mean by the time water becomes the real currency.
Beyond Luxury brings together the founders, executives and cultural voices shaping the future of luxury, exploring brand innovation, consumer behavior, craftsmanship and where the luxury industry is headed next.
00:03:48 How images, not text, built Assouline's entire style
00:06:22 The book that started in a basement: La Colombe d'Or
00:14:56 Making the Roger Federer book
00:19:23 The surrealism book she had to kill over copyright costs
00:21:07 Why she calls ChatGPT and Google easy fast food
00:25:48 Why she tells her team to eat culture
00:32:28 Bergdorf Goodman's gift floor and Goyard's first-ever partnership
00:48:52 What is luxury? Her answer from a Rochas interview forty years ago
00:55:28 Three words for the luxury industry today
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Follow us on : Substack → https://beyondluxury.substack.com/ Editorial Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/beyondluxury.media/
Podcast Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/beyondluxury.podcast/
Carlota's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/carlotarodben/
Podcast Tiktok → https://www.tiktok.com/@beyondluxury.podcast
Beyond Luxury LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyondluxurygroup/ Carlota's LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlotarodben/
Website → https://beyondluxury.group/
LinkTree → https://linktr.ee/beyondluxury.group

The culture strategist who reads what consumers want before it goes mainstream. Pascal Monfort explains why good taste, not follower counts, is becoming one of luxury’s greatest competitive advantages.
Pascal Monfort is the founder of REC, the Paris-based cultural foresight and strategy agency built around its Research, Experts, Consumers methodology, with work spanning luxury, fashion and sport for brands including Lacoste and GANT.
He spent nearly 10 years at Nike working across consumer culture and innovation, was Art Director at Issey Miyake, founded Ephemera, the Paris bookshop dedicated to rare fashion documents, and teaches the history and sociology of fashion.
In 2026, Pascal was named Chief Creative Officer of Le Coq Sportif, where he is helping lead the next chapter of the historic French sportswear brand founded in 1882.
In this episode of Beyond Luxury, Pascal breaks down the REC method and his consumer pyramid, from “seeker heads” to early adopters, and explains why he needs only 24 of the right people to crack a strategic question.
We discuss:
• How to identify cultural shifts before they go mainstream• Why 24 carefully selected people can reveal more than thousands of data points
• The difference between creating culture and buying visibility• Why follower counts are a poor proxy for cultural influence• What Lacoste, Prada and GANT understand about cultural relevance
• How Nike taught Pascal to read consumers and subcultures• Why human taste still matters in an algorithmic world• Why good taste is expertise, not decoration
• What it takes to rebuild an iconic heritage brand like Le Coq Sportif
Beyond Luxury explores the forces reshaping the global luxury industry through conversations with the people building what comes next. Hosted by Carlota Rodben, the podcast brings together leaders across luxury, fashion, hospitality, technology, culture and innovation to understand changing consumer behaviour, brand strategy and the future of luxury.
Subscribe for new conversations with the people shaping the future of luxury, every week. 
Follow us on :

Substack → https://beyondluxury.substack.com/ Editorial Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/beyondluxury.media/ Podcast Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/beyondluxury.podcast/ Carlota's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/carlotarodben/ Podcast Tiktok → https://www.tiktok.com/@beyondluxury.podcast Beyond Luxury LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyondluxurygroup/ Carlota's LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlotarodben/ Website → https://beyondluxury.group/ LinkTree → https://linktr.ee/beyondluxury.group
Subscribe for new conversations with the people shaping the future of luxury, every week.

A former litigator is 3D printing living seawalls that protect billions in Miami luxury real estate and rebuild marine life at the same time. Anya Freeman, founder and CEO of Kind Designs, has raised 22 million dollars, works with the Ritz-Carlton, the Mandarin Oriental and the Fontainebleau, and signed a contract with the US Navy, all from a factory on the Miami River.
Beyond Luxury is a podcast delivering luxury industry insights across fashion, beauty and hospitality, with expert perspectives on brand innovation, consumer behavior and the future of luxury. This episode covers luxury real estate, sustainability without the green premium, product-led growth, craftsmanship, coastal infrastructure and what it takes to build a category-defining brand as a first-time founder.
New episodes of Beyond Luxury drop weekly. Follow for more conversations with the founders and experts shaping the luxury industry. Read the deeper analysis on our Substack, Top Voices, linked in the show notes.
Timestamps
00:00  Why Miami's luxury boom has a coastline problem
04:32  From litigator to seawall founder
05:50  Ukraine to Maine to Miami, the immigrant path
07:09  The flooding that started Kind Designs
11:46  How a lawyer rewrites the building code
17:38  Raising 22 million dollars and why Florida investors said yes
20:35  Being the only woman in seawall construction
27:54  What luxury developers actually want in a seawall
29:20  Turning the seawall into public art
34:11  The US Navy contract and a printer that ships anywhere
39:56  2030: the first female unicorn in Miami
48:02  What luxury means to her
57:42  The one thing you need to make it: grit
Subscribe for new conversations with the people shaping the future of luxury, every week.
Subscribe for new conversations with the people shaping the future of luxury, every week. Follow us on :
Substack → https://beyondluxury.substack.com/
Editorial Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/beyondluxury.media/
Podcast Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/beyondluxury.podcast/
Carlota's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/carlotarodben/
Podcast Tiktok → https://www.tiktok.com/@beyondluxury.podcast
Beyond Luxury LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyondluxurygroup/
Carlota's LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlotarodben/
Website → https://beyondluxury.group/
LinkTree → ⁠https://linktr.ee/beyondluxury.group⁠

Eighty percent of luxury discovery now starts on digital, so how do luxury brands stay desirable on platforms they cannot control?
YouTube's Creator Community Partnerships Lead, Ina Fuchs, and former Meta Global Head of Luxury and Board Member of Biologique Recherche, Breitling, and Rituals, Morin Oluwole, break down the creator economy reshaping luxury, fashion, beauty and hospitality marketing.
Recorded LIVE at Cannes Lions, this episode of Beyond Luxury covers creator communities, influencer strategy, brand storytelling, generative AI in luxury content, and the measurement gap in the creator economy.
Expect specifics on Coach, Hermès, Dior and Jacquemus, on why community beats follower count, and on how brands protect brand DNA while giving creators real creative freedom.
Beyond Luxury delivers luxury industry insights across fashion, beauty and hospitality, with expert perspectives on brand innovation, consumer behavior, craftsmanship and product-led growth.
New episodes of Beyond Luxury drop weekly. Follow for more conversations with the founders and experts shaping the luxury industry.
Read the deeper analysis on our Substack, Top Voices, linked in the show notes.
Timestamps:
00:00 Meet Ina Fuchs and Morin Oluwole

04:46 Why 80% of luxury discovery now starts on digital

10:10 The fear of losing brand DNA to creators

13:19 Why followers are the wrong metric, and the Coach book charm campaign

16:28 Playing with brand codes: Hermès and Dior x Jisoo

18:58 The problem with the word “control”

21:10 Jacquemus and the bags rolling down the street

26:03 Brands as creators, and the hero-hub-hygiene framework

28:41 The measurement gap and the reality inside the boardroom

37:30 Heritage, desirability and generative AI

42:25 The twelve-month playbook for brands

Subscribe for new conversations with the people shaping the future of luxury, every week!
Follow us on :⁠⁠⁠
Substack →⁠ https://beyondluxury.substack.com/
Editorial Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/beyondluxury.media/
Podcast Instagram →⁠ https://www.instagram.com/beyondluxury.podcast/
Carlota's Instagram →⁠ https://www.instagram.com/carlotarodben/
Podcast Tiktok →⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@beyondluxury.podcast
Beyond Luxury LinkedIn →⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyondluxurygroup/⁠
Carlota's LinkedIn → ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlotarodben/⁠
Website →⁠ https://beyondluxury.group/
LinkTree →⁠ https://linktr.ee/beyondluxury.group

Luxury hospitality is being reshaped by an $80 trillion wealth transfer, and Nadine Choe explains exactly who wins. Founder of the Milan-based media platform The Stanza, Nadine structured over $7b in development capital for hotel projects, including One Beverly Hills, a project flagged by Aman Hotel & Residences. She reads the industry through both the capital stack and the craftsmanship, a combination almost no one else brings.
The Beyond Luxury Podcast covers the future of luxury across fashion, beauty and hospitality, with expert conversations on brand innovation, consumer behavior and where the industry is headed next. This episode gets into product-led growth in hospitality, luxury branding, craftsmanship, patient capital, members clubs, and why flawless service is becoming the real luxury as AI reshapes travel. New episodes of Beyond Luxury drop weekly. Follow for more conversations with the founders and experts shaping the luxury industry. Read the deeper analysis on our Substack, Top Voices, linked in the show notes.

Timestamps-
00:00 Why luxury clients now collect experiences over objects
04:30 From underwriting billion-dollar hotels to building The Stanza
07:47 The $80 trillion wealth transfer and why luxury groups moved into hotels
14:20 Why a $300 room and a $10,000 room both call themselves luxury
17:00 Her real definition of luxury: removing every decision
18:19 Passalacqua, patient capital and the Dyson detail that gives it away
22:39 Why so many new hotels look exactly the same
27:00 How capital structure decides which hotels have taste
41:48 What makes a members club last instead of fade
50:30 How AI will split lifestyle and ultra-luxury hospitality
55:07 The one skill anyone entering hospitality has to have

Subscribe for new conversations with the people shaping the future of luxury, every week!

Follow us on :⁠⁠⁠
Substack →⁠ https://beyondluxury.substack.com/Editorial
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/beyondluxury.media/
Podcast Instagram →⁠ https://www.instagram.com/beyondluxury.podcast/Carlota's
Instagram →⁠ https://www.instagram.com/carlotarodben/Podcast
Tiktok →⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@beyondluxury.podcast
Beyond Luxury LinkedIn →⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyondluxurygroup/⁠Carlota's
LinkedIn → ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlotarodben/⁠Website →⁠ https://beyondluxury.group/
LinkTree →⁠ https://linktr.ee/beyondluxury.group