This study enters a dialogue shaped by Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, asking a focused question: What is boutique? If Duchamp unsettled the authority of the art object and Warhol exposed the aesthetics of mass production, I examine the cultural space where commodity, branding, labor, and aspiration intersect.

Historically, the working class has shaped what becomes fashionable—denim, T-shirts, worker jackets—yet is often excluded from the curated spaces that resell these aesthetics at a premium. Originally meaning a small shop in 16th-century France, “boutique” evolved into a signifier of trend and exclusivity; I am drawn to its earlier definition, a shop stocked according to community need.

Why do ordinary goods increase three to five times in value once placed in interiors styled like antique apothecaries? Do consumers desire age itself, or the performance of age—new objects made to appear historic, inspired objects framed as authentic?

If two individuals produce the same item, what grants one the status of boutique? Through the use of ready-made surfaces and branded materials, I test whether “boutiqueness” can be intensified or dismantled, questioning whether it is defined by the object, the brand, the environment, or the illusion of attainability.