Is luxury in the eye of the beholder? In closets and organized spaces, is it the experience, the materials, the innovation, or the price? Designers, manufacturers, contractors, and homeowners may each have a different answer. In this issue, several contributing writers offer their perspectives, and I encourage you to read them.

Personally, my initial notion of luxury was a space with all the bells and whistles and the latest innovations, something beyond your wildest imagination, with a whopping price tag to prove it. And it was something beyond the grasp of the average consumer, because luxury is not average. But I think this concept, this version of luxury, is steeped in consumerism and materialism and misses the mark.

With the hustle and bustle and complexity of our world, sometimes luxury is the time you have to accomplish all the time-sensitive matters that cross your desk. Sometimes luxury is the ability to find peace during chaos. Or sometimes it’s taking pleasure in simplicity, like a sunny day after months of gray clouds, or the sparkling green leaves from trees dormant during winter that are now coming to life. Or it’s the brilliant rainbow colors of spring flowers—violets, tulips—that are blooming everywhere.

In the context of a home and what could elevate a simple project to luxury, it was once a soft-close drawer that easily slides into place, or how a smart LED lighting system can change or set the mood. These solutions are now often considered standard in a design. So, what is the next level to elevate luxury? Some designers are looking to innovative materials and high-tech accessories or even more sophisticated lighting solutions with the idea that our personal environments should be designed to optimize daily rhythms and patterns, leading to less stress and disruption. But should there be more?

Luxury is as much an internal experience as it is a visual one, making it very subjective. Recognizing this means understanding that luxury can’t be standardized for every customer. For some, it’s a showcase such as a boutique walk-in closet meant to display a curated collection of purses, shoes, and hats. For others, it’s a hidden pantry fitting seamlessly in a kitchen design that covers the clutter of a busy home.

For professionals, the challenge is not to assume what luxury means for clients but to ask what brings them joy. A design may be beautiful and expensive but may not provide the truest high-end amenity clients are looking for.