Hello, my name is Sébastien, and I’m the Heritage Coordinator at Arctic World Archive.

Every day, I have the privilege of working with brands, institutions, and cultural guardians who share one common concern: how do we make sure that what defines us today is still here tomorrow?

For luxury brands, this question isn’t theoretical — it touches the very essence of their identity. The sketches, the formulas, the designs, the stories. Without them, a brand loses not only its past, but also its ability to inspire the future.

In this article, I’d like to take you through the risks I see heritage managers face every day, and how we at AWA help turn those risks into resilience.

What counts as heritage for a luxury brand?

If you’ve ever walked into a couture archive, you know the feeling: shelves stacked with pattern books, drawers of embroidery samplers, boxes filled with atelier notebooks. What sits in those shelves isn’t dusty paperwork but the pulse of craftsmanship, carrying the touch and knowledge of generations.

In watchmaking, it could be the original calibre drawings.

In perfumery, a fragile notebook holding the recipe of a signature scent.

In fashion, the toiles and templates that shaped collections, now celebrated worldwide.

And today, so much of this heritage is digital: CAD files, 3D scans of objects, high‑resolution campaign photography, even the social media assets that carried a collection to millions.These are as much a part of a brand’s identity as a silk swatch from 1925.

The risks facing brand heritage today

So what threatens these treasures? In my work, I see four risks come up again and again:

The digitisation gap:

Despite years of progress, most collections remain only partially digitised. Surveys show that in Europe, an average of 43.6% of museum collections are digitised, leaving nearly 57% still untouched. For luxury brands, that could mean the only surviving perfume formula, written in a fragile ledger, still sits vulnerable on a shelf.

Fragile disasterreadiness: 

Very few institutions have a solid emergency plan. In fact, only 24% of collecting institutions report having both a written plan and trained staff to carry it out. One burst pipe or unexpected fire could erase a century of craft in an afternoon. We’ve all read about museum basements flooded in storms — it can just as easily happen in an archive room of a fashion house.

Digital obsolescence:

Many brands assume that once something is digital, it’s safe forever. Unfortunately, that’s not true.

Storage media typically need refreshing every five years to avoid loss, and proprietary formats often become obsolete. A CAD file from ten years ago might already be unreadable without the right software. Without intervention, digital is just as fragile as paper.

Rising cyber threats:

Finally, there’s the digital world we all live in. Ransomware now affects between 59–66% of organisations globally each year, and the average cost of a data breach has risen to USD 4.88 million. For a luxury brand, losing access to campaign masters or provenance records overnight isn’t just an IT problem but could cause reputational and financial damage that takes years to recover from.

Where AWA fits in

This is where our work at Arctic World Archive (AWA) comes in.

AWA is a non‑profit foundation, backed by Piql, a Norwegian technology company specialising in long‑term digital preservation, with a simple mission: to give humanity (— and brands) — a way to safeguard their most valuable memories for centuries. We are based deep inside a former coal mine in Svalbard, Norway. It’s a remote, demilitarised, and stable place, naturally protected by permafrost.

In short, it’s one of the safest places on Earth to store memory.

Instead of relying on servers or tapes that constantly need replacing, we use piqlFilm, a special photosensitive medium designed to last for 2,000 years. The data is stored offline, immune to hacking, ransomware, or even electromagnetic disruption. And here’s what I love most: it’s readable both by machines and by humans. Even a century from now, your heritage won’t be locked away in some forgotten format.

And this isn’t just theory!

Take Jaguar Heritage Trust, for example. The iconic British car manufacturer became the first UK automotive brand to entrust us with their history. Jaguar’s story at AWA shows what’s possible when a company decides that its heritage deserves eternity. If a luxury carmaker sees this as essential, imagine what it could mean for a French brand safeguarding couture sketches, master stones, or fragrance recipes.

At AWA, we don’t replace your current systems — your DAMs, your clouds, your backups. We add the last, immutable layer.

The one that says: no matter what happens, this story will not be lost.

Why it matters

When I speak with fellow heritage managers, what strikes me most is that this work is about more than archives:

• It’s about continuity, giving future creative directors the tools to revisit their brand’s origins.
• It’s about authenticity, defending design rights, proving provenance.
• And it’s about storytelling — having the originals ready for an anniversary exhibition, a re‑edition of a legendary product, or a new generation of customers hungry for meaning.

Preserving heritage isn’t just about protection. It’s about amplifying the brand story for centuries to come.

Take the next step

The savoir‑faire of today is the heritage of tomorrow. But without action, it risks being lost to time, accidents, or digital decay.

If you’d like to go deeper, check out our dedicated page where you could get some insights, examples, and our latest whitepaper to download for free.

Sébastien, Heritage Coordinator at AWA.