The world has changed – and so has the luxury consumer. While our sector remains resilient through the current global economic challenges, fierce competition and increasingly sophisticated customers present new challenges which require new plans of action. What are your core values? How does Britishness translate overseas? What is motivating the next generation of high-end aficionados?
The new realities of the luxury sector need bold strategies, and we will explore these on Monday 15th May 2023 at the Walpole British Luxury Summit 2023, hosted at The Londoner in association with ArcOn Brands, InvestHK and LMH.
Having teased speakers and topics over the past few weeks, we're now thrilled to announce the full agenda for the day, containing all the speakers, talks and panel discussions, as well as timings, at the event.
You can download the Walpole British Luxury Summit 2023 Programme in full here.
Tickets have now sold out, but you can still join us on the day as we discuss the brave new world of identity-driven luxury, the intersection of culture and business, new strategies for investment, and much more. Follow Walpole on Instagram for live updates throughout the event.
> Scroll down to see speakers, moderators and panellists.
Jasmina Banda Chief Strategy Officer, Chalhoub Group
In her role as Chief Strategy Officer at Chalhoub, Jasmina heads Intelligence, Strategy and Growth (ISG) business unit at the group. Banda has over 17 years of working experience across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia. Prior to joining Chalhoub, she spent 10 years in management consulting, reaching the level of Associate Partner at McKinsey and Company. She is passionate about two topics: luxury and women in workplace.
Alex Beard CEO, Royal Opera House
Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Opera House since 2013, Beard has a life-long love of opera and a passionate enthusiasm for ballet. He serves on the boards of 14–18 NOW (the First World War Cultural Programme), the West End Partnership, and is Chairman of High House Production Park. He joined the Arts Council in 1986, before working at the Tate from 1994 to 2013, including as its Deputy Director from 2002. In 2012 he was appointed a CBE.
Noah Bier Director, Head of Sales, Makers Cabinet
Makers Cabinet was founded in 2017 by a team of designers, Odin Ardagh, Benjamin Weininger and Noah Bier. The three founders who met while studying Product Design at Central Saint Martins were dissatisfied with the disposable and wasteful nature of the stationery market and wanted to change that. It began with a simple idea, re-imagining the way we sharpen pencils. Since then, they have created a range of original and exciting heirloom quality tools, elevating the drawing and writing experience to an art form.
Edward Bulmer Founder, Edward Bulmer Natural Paint
Edward Bulmer has spent the last 30 years working in some of Britain’s finest buildings. He is a leading interior designer, architectural historian and ‘colourman’, renowned for restoring our heritage buildings, bringing his expert knowledge to conservation and his design flair to the creation of new spaces for modern living. In 2003, work on Goodwood House demanded he use only non-toxic and sustainable materials and Bulmer began analysing so-called ‘eco-friendly’ paint products. This led him to launch his own paint collection, Edward Bulmer Natural Paint, which is now available in over 100 colours.
Fraser Brown Retail Director, Heathrow
Fraser became Retail Director at Heathrow on 1st November 2018. Previously he spent over 4 years at Heathrow Express as Managing Director and formerly Commercial Director. Prior to this he worked at Gatwick Airport as Head of Travel Services, before moving across London to Heathrow.
Marie Carlisle Founder, Goldfinger
Marie Carlisle is the CEO & Co-Founder of Goldfinger, a design-led social enterprise crafting sustainable and high-quality furniture for individuals and businesses. Marie is a multi-passionate entrepreneur with a marketing and operations background, who left a career in the luxury goods industry to pursue a path with more purpose, having previously worked for LVMH, Richemont and Estée Lauder.
Paul Croughton Editor-in-Chief, Robb Report
Croughton is the Editor-in-Chief of Robb Report, based between New York and the UK. Robb Report, in print and online, is the leading voice in global luxury with 18 international editions and a highly engaged and discerning audience that shares an appreciation for quality, exclusivity, heritage, taste, and fine design.
Marco Fedrigo Associate Partner, Bain & Co
Marco Fedrigo is a member of Bain & Co's Retail, Performance Improvement and Organization practices, as well as the company's global Fashion and Luxury Goods vertical. In his 12+ years of experience, Fedrigo has worked on more than 100 cases for leading fashion and luxury players across positioning (from fashion retail to high-end luxury), business models (from brick-and-mortar retail focus to full direct-to-consumer) and corporate setup (from large multinational groups to local family owned enterprises).
Celine Gilg Managing Director, PUIG UK
Celine’s beauty industry career started at L’Oréal UK in 1997, during which she rose to Group Product Manager. She then moved to Guerlain for three years where she took on the role of Marketing Director in London. Her rapid career progression, then saw her progress to Estée Lauder Companies where during her 11-year stay, she became Vice President, General Manager for Tom Ford Beauty, Aerin, By Kilian, Frederic Malle and Le Labo. Today, Celine leads PUIG business for the UK and Ireland as Managing Director – a role she has held since 2019.
Caroline Jennings Marketing and Communication Director, Cadogan
Jennings has served on the Marketing team of Cadogan since 2014. She is responsible for managing Cadogan’s corporate profile, in addition to the events and partnerships programme, marketing channels (including publications and digital/social media for each core destination) and PR campaigns to engage with local and international audiences.
Adrian Hallmark CEO, Bentley Motors
Hallmark joined Bentley Motors for a second time in his career in February 2018 as Chairman and CEO. He has 25 years of global and regional automotive board-level responsibility in UK, US and Asia, with Porsche, Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover, and Bentley Motors.
Thomas Heatherwick Designer
Heatherwick is a British designer whose prolific and varied work over two decades is characterised by its ingenuity, inventiveness and originality. Defying the conventional classification of design disciplines, he founded Heatherwick Studio in 1994 to bring the practices of design, architecture and urban planning together in a single workspace. Last year, he won our Great Creative Briton honour at the Walpole British Luxury Awards 2022.
Dr Tristram Hunt Director, V&A
Dr Hunt is the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London – the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance. Since taking up the post in 2017, Dr Hunt has championed design education in UK schools and encouraged debate around the history of the museum’s global collections. He has overseen the opening of the new Exhibition Road Quarter and record visitor numbers to its South Kensington site. Dr Hunt’s priorities are focused on the transition to a multi-site museum, with V&A Dundee, the redesign of the Museum of Childhood, and the development of a new museum and open access collections centre in Stratford, East London.
Carol Hilsum Senior Director, Product Innovation, Farfetch
Hilsum has been creating innovative, fashion-tech products since 2004. She believes in always creating and supporting progress in the fashion industry by helping to drive innovation and growth through her own product development and leading best-in-class product teams. Most of all, she focuses on building products and services that bring joy to fellow fashion lovers.
Caitlin Innes Chief Customer Experience and Digital Officer, Harrods
Innes is a member of the Executive Committee responsible for all Harrods digital, customer and strategy teams. These include e-commerce, digital marketing, digital partnerships, CRM, customer insight and analytics, customer operations, Harrods' corporate strategy function and the £1.6bn Harrods' Loyalty Program.
Louisa Livingston Co-Founder, Audiences Strategies
Livingston is Co-Founder of Audience Strategies, a company dedicated to developing capabilities that help businesses be strategic about growing their audience through the use of Technology, Research, Data Analytics & Data Science.
Angelica Leung Head of Consumer Products, InvestHK
Leung has over a decade of experience in foreign direct investment. Her current focus is on facilitating investment from companies in retail or sourcing of toys, cosmetics, jewellery, home furnishings, fashion, electronic appliances and most recently extending to retail technology. Since 2013, the Consumer
Products team has assisted nearly 300 companies to set up or expand in Hong Kong.
Mary Portas Founder, Portas
Portas is an internationally-renowned brand and retail expert, broadcaster, and author. She is also the founder of Portas, a creative brand agency that has worked with luxury marques including Louis Vuitton, dunhill, Mulberry and Acne Studios.
Katie Prescott Business Editor, The Times
Katie Prescott is Business Editor at The Times and a weekly columnist for the newspaper’s award-winning business section, bringing readers the key stories across the fast-changing landscape of tech, media and telecoms. A regular on Times Radio, she is a familiar voice to millions of listeners after a decade reporting for the BBC and presenting the business news on Radio 4’s Today Programme.
William Oliver Chief Brand Officer, dunhill
A creatively-focused brand and marketing expert, Oliver's work as Chief Brand Officer of dunhill is informed by diverse senior roles held across global luxury and premium product, agency and editorial organisations. Consistently communicating with a refined and culturally aware vocabulary that connects directly to a defined audience, his holistic and strategic approach has been honed to drive results that are both high-volume and respectful to a brand’s DNA.
Rankin Photographer and Founder, RANKIN CREATIVE
Rankin is a British photographer, publisher, and film director. He is also the founder and head of RANKIN CREATIVE, an independent end-to-end creative agency established to help brands reach new audiences using the power of editorial, advertising and entertainment.
Chloé Reuter Founding Partner & Vice Chair, Gusto Collective
Chloé originally founded Reuter Communications in 2010, a renowned digital and communications agency specialising in the luxury sector in China. The company was subsequently acquired by Gusto Collective in 2020. Gusto now has offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and London, and continues to be a market leader in next-gen marketing and branding solutions for luxury brands.
Chris Sanderson Co-Founder, The Future Laboratory
Sanderson is Co-Founder of consultancy The Future Laboratory, where he is responsible for delivering the company‘s extensive global roster of conferences, media events and trend briefings, which he presents in London, New York, Sydney, Melbourne and around the world.
Katy Wickremesinghe Founder, KTW & The Wick
London born British-Sri Lankan entrepreneur Katy Wickremesinghe founded KTW consultancy in 2014, following a decade at Freuds. A specialist in the art world eco system and the global luxury brand, corporate and entertainment space, KTW has become the go-to for those looking for navigation, translation, and connection in a layered and complex art market. In 2021 Katy founded The Wick - a cultural content hub which is a navigator of the art world developing "culturally curious audiences" and dynamic specialist content and programming.
ktwlondon.com // thewickculture.com
Jing Zhang Global Editor-in-Chief, JING DAILY
Jing Zhang is the Global Editor-in-Chief at JING DAILY, covering the business of luxury, fashion, beauty, retail, market analysis and consumer trends in China, as well as the metaverse, NFTs, crypto, culture and commerce. ormer Fashion Editor at the South China Morning Post, Prestige HK's Editorial Director and WestEast Magazine's Managing Editor, she is a leading authority on luxury, fashion, culture, creative and consumer ecosystems. Zhang is passionate about exploring how blockchain and the metaverse will transform creative industries and social spaces.
