Defining luxury is no simple task—even if we all carry a mental image of what we believe it to be. The first thing that likely comes to mind is its inaccessibility, a price tag out of reach for most people. But it’s not just an economic concept—there’s something more. An elusive “something,” intangible and instantly recognizable, yet almost impossible to articulate.
Alongside the traditional associations of luxury—unsurpassed quality, status, and excellence—we now find narratives that speak to the immaterial needs of the modern consumer: time, experience, and personalization.
True sophistication, then, is not always the most expensive option. Luxury is the ability to express ourselves through what we consume—from the clothes we wear, to the restaurants we choose, the hotels we visit, and the performances we attend. Ultimately, it’s about investing our most precious asset: time. Accumulating things, simply for the sake of having them, no longer makes sense. Today, exclusivity and originality matter more than price.
And it’s within this emotional space that branding makes all the difference.
Expressing Luxury Through Design
We believe branding is everything. Not just the product or service itself, but the entire ecosystem of interaction—physical and digital—that surrounds it. This is especially true in the luxury segment, where nuance, suggestion, and layered stimuli are of paramount importance. And to be nuanced, one must be exacting.
That’s why at Buenaventura, we approach luxury with the meticulousness of a master craftsman. No detail is too small—because it’s within the details that distinction lives. Building a solid, coherent structure isn’t about making it understandable—it’s about making it deeply felt. This is the lens through which we approach luxury brand design.
Clarity doesn’t require verbosity. The classic luxury brands tend toward silence—they don’t need to constantly explain what they do, because their identity speaks for itself. These are brands with context, with a symbolic universe their audiences connect with in profound, lasting ways. They generate a recognizable atmosphere almost immediately. They inspire. They draw us in—as if they had their own gravitational pull.
Luxury, Idealism, and Ambition
Design in the luxury industry is, above all, a vision. A vision that moves between the ethereal and the solid, between idealism and ambition, between strategy and unrestrained creativity.
Hermès is a perfect example.
Since 1837, when Thierry Hermès opened his harness workshop on the Grands Boulevards of Paris, the French brand has cultivated an extraordinary history. Over time, it has expanded its product universe to include iconic leather handbags and wallets, as well as hand-painted Chinese silk scarves—symbols of luxury and elegance.
On social media, the brand communicates with ease and warmth, blending art and craftsmanship through a broad spectrum of illustration, drawing, painting, and animation styles—all conveyed with a sense of naturalness and approachability. Hermès’ take on contemporary luxury breaks away from old clichés of stiffness, solemnity, and distance. And none of this is accidental in today’s multimodal communication landscape, where customer experience is a non-negotiable value.
Design as Investment
Designing with a defined purpose has measurable impact. It’s not just about creating an attractive visual identity—it’s about making design the driving force behind corporate strategy.
A clear example is Caviar Riofrío, a pioneering brand in its sector whose full visual identity redesign by Buenaventura reflects its dynamism and best-in-class management.
The company aimed to differentiate itself within the world of caviar—a segment of the luxury market often stuck in the past and under pressure from low-cost alternatives.
This complete redesign—of both brand identity and product presentation—set a new standard for visual clarity, elegance, and expressive power.
The data following the rebranding speaks volumes. Beyond the attention garnered from both general and design-specialized media, digital performance improved significantly—newsletter open rates, for instance, increased by 26%.
But the most tangible result came in the form of sales, with increases reaching up to 140% compared to the period just before the rebrand.
Caviar Riofrío firmly established itself as a global benchmark in luxury and haute cuisine, with a unique, contemporary, and refined personality—far removed from the outdated aesthetics that dominate the sector.
And the vision didn’t end with the rebranding. Subsequent design initiatives on key dates have continued to deepen the brand’s narrative around nature and craftsmanship.
One such example is Nazzarii, inspired by taracea nazarí, an ancestral inlay technique native to Granada that has stood the test of time. It tells the story of where two paths meet at Caviar Riofrío: haute cuisine and craftsmanship. The brand’s natural, artisanal process takes center stage through four elemental forces—water, stone, mountain, and the unique latitude of the Granada setting where sturgeon are raised.
Another initiative, Trilogía, sought to express the brand’s essence through majolica ceramics—a sustainable material inherently tied to traditional craftsmanship, and thus, to the unhurried pace of manual creation. The result: pieces that are truly one-of-a-kind.
When product, business strategy, and design align, the results can be nothing short of extraordinary.
Ana Moliz
Art Director Buenaventura
