JustLuxe talks with Fisker automotive co-founder Henrik Fisker, about the Karma hybrid electric vehicle and why sustainability does not necessarily mean sacrifice
Fisker: Sustainability Without the Sacrifice
Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
JustLuxe talks with Fisker automotive co-founder Henrik Fisker, about the Karma hybrid electric vehicle and why sustainability does not necessarily mean sacrifice
Luxury and sustainability are not immediately obvious bedfellows. The glamour associated the finest fur coats, the fastest cars and the most elaborate private jets, is a far cry from images associated with ethical sourcing, sustainable farming and biofuel. Despite the disparity, some luxury brands that have put sustainability at the heart of their strategy and are leveraging the dichotomy to great success.
Stella McCartney is an early example. Her eponymous line produces a range of high fashion, no nonsense, covetable luxury clothes – that just happen to follow her social beliefs and vegan convictions. A similar thought process has launched American automaker, Fisker, into similar success, with orders for their ‘Karma’ luxury hybrid already received from Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Gore, and Colin Powell, and production sold out until 2012.
The brand describes itself as a ‘premium plug-in hybrid electric vehicle manufacturer, with a mission to redefine the luxury automobile, with an unwavering dedication to sustainability.’ Born out of desire, by co-founder Henrik Fisker, to make an environmentally friendly car, without “the sacrifices that they are always associated with.”
“ What if you could make an environmentally friendly car, where you don’t have the sacrifices that they are always associated with? ”
In 2011 15,000 units of the new Fisker Karma will hit the road. Developed by an innovative team of engineers and a technology pioneered by the US military, the Karma was launched in 2008 as the world’s first luxury plug-in electric hybrid vehicle.
Of the eco-designed automobiles currently on the market, Fisker remarks “they don’t look good, they’re boring to drive. They’re slow.” The $100,000 Karma, however, has a top speed of 201kmph, produces more torque than the Bugatti Veyron and is capable of reaching 100kmph in 5.8 seconds.
JustLuxe recently visited Fisker Automotive headquarters, located in Anaheim, California, to discover the Fisker story with co-founder Henrik Fisker.
An image from the Fisker Karma ‘Pure Driving Passion’ campaign
Creative Strategist, Digital
Sophie Doran is currently Senior Creative Strategist, Digital at Karla Otto. Prior to this role, she was the Paris-based editor-in-chief of Luxury Society. Prior to joining Luxury Society, Sophie completed her MBA in Melbourne, Australia, with a focus on luxury brand dynamics and leadership, whilst simultaneously working in management roles for several luxury retailers.