Populuxe is a conceptual project designed to examine the consumerist trends which began in America in the 1950's and has continued to determine the environment in which much of the western world lives today. The decade from 1954 to 1964 was one of America's great shopping sprees: never before were countless amounts of people able to acquire so many belongings, and never before was there such a choice. Thomas Hine coined the term Populuxe as a means of expressing populism, popularity and luxury. 

 

The 1950's saw the American economy boom thus, creating a new world of mass suburbia and modernity. In this world, everything a family owned -the house, car and furniture- were provisional. Materialistic objects were more common and it was at this point the idea of products, possessions, objects and brands became a lifestyle choice. Populuxe is about the material objects of an increasingly affluent age.