The economic growth that East Asian countries (in particular China) experience led to a dramatic increase in the demand for luxury products. The widespread use of them has eliminated to an extent the scarcity effect that distinguishes luxury products from ordinary goods. Yet, these products are largely desired, sought after and distributed with a high price tag, thereupon establishing the new class of neo-luxury products. The current body of knowledge regarding the consumption of luxury products is mostly based on economic and marketing research. There is little reference to the design of luxury goods and even less reference to the effects of design on the perception of luxury goods. Often, marketing research uses terms such as authenticity and aesthetics when defining and describing luxury brands and goods. Nonetheless, “design” is almost completely overlooked in these analyses. Rather, there is an assumption that design is automatically considered an embedded part of luxury creation through words such as “authentic”, “aesthetic” and “heritage.” Nonetheless, looking at the heritage aspects of luxurious products design, one may identify the building blocks that have been present in this market for centuries to create successful brands and products and, during the recent global economic changes, have transform into the new category of "mass luxury". This new product category of neo-luxury products should be looked at and analysed as a class of its own, distinct from luxury goods. In this respect, the luxury segment of the Chinese market is particularly interesting, since it had not experienced this genre of consumerism during most of the contemporary history of the western luxury industry post WWII. Thereupon, the new luxury design that addresses this rapidly growing and relatively immature market does it by harnessing the heritage and the conventional framework of luxury and luxury goods in new ways that can referred to as neo-luxury. The role and position of luxury goods are somewhat questioned in today's mass market: Often, in past times, luxury was associated with rarity (or, at least, with singling out an individual user from the masses of consumers of a similar category product). The paper aims at identifying the attributes of the new, rising class of neo-luxury products that distinguish themselves from the “conventional” luxury goods by utilizing qualitative materials and design. In this respect, aspects of heritage play a major role in the strategic design of these products. Further, they assist in establishing, promoting and

• Yael Pedro(ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon, Spain)
• Elad Harison(Shenkar College of Industrial Engineering and Management, Israel)