What does luxury mean when products are designed for rapid obsolescence? Recorded live at Milan Design Week 2026 in collaboration with INDX|WORLDits eighth episode The Room For Dreams podcast brings together architects Priyanka Mehra, Simran Boparai, Ashmit Singh Alag and Adreesh Chakraborty to analyze the evolving, often contradictory relationship between exclusivity, sustainability and deliberate craftsmanship.
Participants have different views on the definition of luxury. One perspective is based on traditional indicators such as privacy, quiet, sensory comfort and absolute exclusivity. Another view prioritizes public infrastructure, suggesting that high-quality architecture and art should exist in shared urban spaces rather than private homes. This approach measures value by how a building ages, how it reflects the lives of its users and whether it lasts for generations.
This focus on permanence naturally leads to a discussion of local craft. Architects discuss handcrafted details as a deliberate alternative to factory mass production, noting that manual building techniques bring a human element to modern interiors that automation lacks. It’s a slow approach that also shapes how they view sustainability, especially as they try to balance the excess of materials historically associated with high-tech design with the passive, low-tech options required for net-zero buildings.
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Priyanka Mehra
Simran Boparai
indx-woodwiser-room-for-dreams-episode-8-designboom_Ashmit-Alag
Adreesh Chakraborty
project information:
podcasts: Room for dreams
episode: 08
theme: The luxury of purpose
host: Claire Brodka
guests: Priyanka Mehra’s PS Design | @psdesign.co.inSimran Boparai’s Simran Boparai Archtelier | @simrn.boparai,Ashmit Singh Besides Transform Design | @transform_design_studioand Adreesh Chakraborty of The House of Earth | @theearthhome
partner: INDX|WORLD | @indx.global
