IN THE MID-1800s, FRENCHMAN LOUIS VUITTON reinvented the idea of luggage, introducing a flat, stackable waterproof trunk in an array of chic fabrics. His in-demand luggage pieces were creative, elegant and practical. By 1905, his now ubiquitous initials made an appearance on the trunks and, well, you know the rest of that tale. Today, the LV trunk is as popular as ever, and an original could cost well over R100 000 at auction.
“200 Trunks, 200 Visionaries: The Exhibition” was launched in January 2022 at Vuitton’s historic Art Nouveau home in Asnières-sur-Seine, a village northwest of Paris. While the show may applaud the trunk and the man who conceived it, it also showcases new innovators: for the project, 200 of them get to produce their own interpretation of the LV…