What Luxury Really Means
OPENING SCENE Hannu and Tara have just spent a week in Abu Dhabi, attending Shoptalk Luxe. Two thousand luxury retail leaders from around the world gathered there to talk about the future of premium customer experiences. Now they're flying back, coats already on, Finland waiting below with minus 25C (-13F).
GOLD ISN'T EVERYTHING
TARA:"I thought luxury would be obvious. Loud. All the gold and the marble and the sports cars. And there was plenty of that. The stunning Emirates Palace and the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque. Never seen anything like it. But that's not what I'm still thinking about."
HANNU: "No, same. It was the other stuff. The quieter things. Like the space. Everything felt so spacious. There was room to breathe. The way things were designed, how you moved through places. How much time people gave you. It felt considered.”
TARA: "Someone caring is luxury.”
WHEN RULES FEEL LIKE FREEDOM
HANNU: "And it felt safe with all the rules. Very Finnish, actually.”
TARA: "The stickers on every car saying 'report me if I'm driving too fast.' If it says 100, you go 100. If you do 101, you get fined. And the streets are so quiet. Not just traffic-wise, but actually quiet. They have noise limits on cars. If your engine's too loud, you get fined."
HANNU: "AI radars everywhere that catch everything. Not just speeding. If you don't give way at a crossing, if you overtake dangerously, it sees it and you get a ticket automatically. It should feel like Big Brother, but it didn't."
TARA: "No, it felt freeing. Like you could actually relax because you knew everyone was following the rules. You weren't on guard all the time. And in today's world? That's luxury. Being able to switch off that part of your brain that's always scanning for danger."
HANNU: "I think that's why people were so different there. More open. Did you notice how much eye contact there was? How much people smiled at strangers? We had actual conversations with people we'd never met before. People from all over the world, connecting."
OKAY, GOLD IN COFFEE IS EVERYTHING
HANNU: "Speaking of luxury... that gold cappuccino.”
TARA: "It was on my bucket list. And they say you are what you eat, so I'm golden!"
HANNU: "I laughed so hard when you told the waiter you don't know if you're allergic to gold."
TARA: "Well I didn't! I've never put gold in my mouth before. What was I supposed to say?"
HANNU: "Real luxury though? We walked seven, maybe ten kilometres every single day. And our feet never hurt. Not once."
TARA: "That's the kind of thing you don't even notice until you don't have it.”
HANNU: “Like right now, going back to minus twenty-five from plus twenty-five. Trust me, we'll notice."
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FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST: The famed 24-carat gold cappuccino at Emirates Palace is basically a normal espresso and frothed milk drink with edible gold flakes on top. It costs around €22/ $23, and honestly, it tastes like a good cappuccino, but the moment of drinking something covered in gold… that’s the memory you take home. Golden!
