Tech Powered Luxury

Panelists at FuturePlus Paris discuss how blockchain technology is revolutionizing fashion, art, and culture, exploring topics like investments in digital assets, collaboration between digital and physical artistry, building digital communities for luxurious experiences, the realm of digital fashion, and the intersection of luxury brands with inclusivity in the web3 space.

This season has seen us dive into all elements and topics that are important in the world of luxury and tech today, across many different product categories: hair care, fashion, beauty, interiors, henna, knitwear, and new technological developments that impact these categories; from AI that can eliminate sizing inconsistencies within fashion to blockchain technologies combined with insurance for luxury goods to the role of social media in the luxury industry from the perspective of Instagram’s Head of Creators and a leading luxury creator.I’m often asked “how can I learn more about luxury and technology?”, from different types of people from all over the world, but in general almost everyone fits into 2 categories. The first category is pretty straightforward, people with little to no experience in this space, often students, who dream of landing a role at the crossroads of luxury and tech. The second category is moreso people who are either working in luxury OR tech already, and they know that understanding the other side will massively help them grow the business that they either own or contribute to. To be honest, there isn’t a one-shot online course or certificate that exists today that covers the crossovers of luxury and technology, which is why this podcast exists! For almost 8 years I have been teaching courses about luxury and tech, starting with very focused topics that only looked at certain components, and now as my own experience has developed, I can touch on broader themes and of course, bring in experts from all over the world to learn directly from them. So here, with this podcast, Tech Powered Luxury gives you a free online resource to learn about everything that happens within this space.Thank you for listening in to 3 seasons of Tech Powered Luxury, there's a lot more to come! Follow Tech Powered Luxury on Instagram.

Celia B is the ultimate fashion all-rounder. Growing up in a small town in Spain, she pursued a degree in communications, gained experience within agencies, and eventually became a jewelry designer and finally, a fashion designer, a creative director and a tastemaker. Celia B has managed to catapult her colourful fashion house into that much-coveted space of being an independent designer with full creative control, whilst building an engaged global community and her own in-house team across continents. With a long list of celebrity fans and a primarily direct-to-consumer business, Celia takes us behind the scenes of her fashion brand, sharing how she went from working in advertising to running her international fashion label between Spain and Shanghai: Celia B. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

David Klingbeil is building the ultimate data platform for luxury houses around the globe with his latest venture Submarine.ai. His 5 years experience at Google turning data into stories for major brands, a streak of serial entrepreneurship, giving 1000s of hours of lectures over the last decade on innovation and luxury means the NYU Adjunct Professor gives us a masterclass on all things tech and luxury in this week’s episode of Tech Powered Luxury. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Rylé Tuvierra is our first guest of 2024, and Tech Powered Luxury's first-ever guest to return for a second episode. Rylé's first conversation with Ashley McDonnell was the most shared episode of 2023, and we're back a year later to check in with the Arab and Asian businesswoman. This time, we dive deep into Rylé's humble beginnings: working 12-hour shifts at a 7/11 in Dubai, and how her dream of being a fashion designer led her to pursue the impossible until it became her reality. With a slew of big fashion names on her roster of campaigns and having attended fashion weeks across the globe with many more to come in 2024, Rylé shares everything from her reaction to finding out she was named on the Vogue Top 100 Innovators list to her recent press trip with Jean Paul Gaultier to Verbier, Switzerland. Sit back, relax and enjoy this eye-opening conversation which is available across all podcasting platforms and exclusively with video on Spotify. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Pietro Novelli is a serial entrepreneur from Italy who went from high school directly into the workforce, landing his first full time role at one of Italy’s most innovative banks thanks to an interview he did about his local start-up that emulated the business model of Groupon. From creating a digital agency and the world’s first TV programme on Facebook Live, to managing Digital Innovation at AXA and spending 5 years at Facebook in Ireland, Pietro has now combined his knowledge of luxury, technology, banking and insurance to launch a first of its kind: Vaultik, a platform that insures luxury goods from theft directly with the brand, recently announcing a $2.5 million seed funding round. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Sorcha O’Raghallaigh is an Irish designer celebrated for her unique, bespoke creations with strong elements of fantasy, glamour and opulence. In this episode of Tech Powered Luxury, I speak with Sorcha O’Raghallaigh about her life as a fashion designer. From closing the graduate show at world-renowned Central Saint Martins with a collection that incorporated bold, glamorous and fantasy-inspired pieces worn by circus-students on stilts to making the pages of Vogue magazine and being worn by Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, Kate Moss and Madonna - Sorcha O’Raghallaigh pushes the limits of creativity and creates magic through fashion and jewellery. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by Farmhouse Fresh.

Mary Furtas is the Ukrainian entrepreneur and former fashion photographer behind the fashion-favourite party wear brand: Cultnaked. In this episode of Tech Powered Luxury we hear from Mary about her mission to meet American supermodels at Paris Fashion Week - the ultimate muses of her brand, the Californian girls - in 2018, with a suitcase full of samples, how she connected with Bella Hadid in Hotel Costes and having her collections go viral when worn by Kendall Jenner and Megan Fox. Mary has persevered throughout the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, continuing to grow her brand into a powerhouse label that focuses on a D2C and influencer-led business. This is truly a masterclass on how to build a fashion brand in the digital age as well as a lesson in entrepreneurship and believing in your mission - both of which Mary embodies every step of the way. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Shana Chu started her fashion career in a division we don't see on the runway: protective garments. Nonetheless, the challenges she faced as a garment technologist are the same we see across the high street all the way to haute couture: sizing inconsistency. The challenge of having cohesive and aligned sizing within a single brand, nevermind across the entire fashion industry, seems to be an ever evolving and expanding issue which costs the environment, brands and the end customer in the form of waste, lost profits and dissatisfaction. Shana set out to tackle the problem of online returns, but later realised she wasn't addressing the root of the issue, which lay in the garment production itself. From her years visiting factory floors and seeing the misalignment from deisgner to production, she developed a platform that feeds information in real time, taking into account the composition of a textile to the environment of the room a garment is produced, all the way to any eventual dying processes that may impact the garment and how a garment will change after it has been washed. Shana explains why we're never the exact same size across our favourite brands, even when it comes to the same style of an item but in two different colours, and how she had her lightbulb moment while in the shower. Shana recently announced a fundraise of €700,000, backed by Delta Partners, Enterprise Ireland and Haatch, to expand Tailr and tackle sizing inconsistency for designers, brands and manufacturers alike. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Bijan Ghorbani is a master storyteller with an unwavering passion for enabling and empowering others. His Storytelling Masterclass has ignited the potential of over 9,000 of Googlers across the globe and within the tech industry worldwide, enabling them to elevate their leadership, negotiation, and influencing abilities. Tech Powered Luxury's host Ashley McDonnell first met Bijan while they both worked at Google's EMEA Headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, within the French Large Customer Sales Team. Ashley attended one of Bijan's Storytelling Masterclasses which was such a huge success that the largest auditorium on the 8,000+ people campus was full, with Ashley having to watch the talk on a screen from a dedicated overflow room. In this episode of Tech Powered Luxury, Bijan talks about how he was born and raised in France from Persian parents and from a very young age had a passion for computers and the internet. Bijan also had a talent and love for storytelling: as a child he would be the elected family member to tell stories about vacations, having the flair for creating suspense and drama. Surrounded by academics, Bijan's communication skills and love for technology created the perfect combination for a career in tech sales, where the objective of any meeting in a business context is simple: drive action. Bijan explains the main fears that people have around public speaking and how to overcome them, how as a sales executive he became the most in-demand public speaking expert at Google, and how the layoffs effected him and led to leaving California to return to Europe and starting a new professional chapter. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.