Louis Vuitton Unveils Frank Gehry Collaborations at Art Basel Miami Beach
Today in Miami, Louis Vuitton magnifies its presence at Art Basel Miami Beach as a Global Associate Partner of this year’s fair, and unveils the ravishing Louis Vuitton x Frank Gehry limited edition handbag collection alongside a sweeping display of past collaborations with the prestigious Canadian-American architect and designer, on view through December 10. The elegant and mesmerizing booth echoes both Gehry and the maison’s iconic sixth sense for craftsmanship and design, as well as an ever-evolving commitment to the arts—evident in vibrant past partnerships with visionaries including James Rosenquist, Olafur Eliasson, Gerhard Richter, Sophie Calle, and Yayoi Kusama.
Photo by Yvonne Tnt/BFA, courtesy of Frank Gehry and Louis Vuitton.
Visitors are Enveloped Within the Artistic Mindscape of Gehry
Four riveting themes inherent to Gehry’s multifaceted oeuvre underpin the Miami exhibition: Material Exploration, Architecture and Form, Animals, and the Twisted Box “Celebrating Monogram” piece. Throughout the show, visitors are enveloped within the artistic mindscape of Gehry, and reminded in stunning fashion—by way of perfume bottles, sketches, handbags, and trunks—of his avante-garde aesthetic and fascination with sculptural forms. Meticulously crafted cardboard and wood models reveal the architect’s visionary design process, exquisitely juxtaposed with five graceful and towering silvery mesh artworks, which evoke the rhapsodic sails of a boat and pay homage to his spectacular 2014 Louis Vuitton window displays.
Photo by Yvonne Tnt/BFA, courtesy of Frank Gehry and Louis Vuitton.
The Louis Vuitton x Frank Gehry Limited Edition Handbag Collection Debuts in Miami
A momentous world premiere of Gehry’s exclusive handbag designs for the maison unfolds within the Miami Beach Convention Center, with dynamic focus on the luminary’s revisioning of Louis Vuitton’s Twisted Box Trunk, renowned Capucines bags, and opulent Bear With Us Clutch—in deft reverberation of the architect’s 2014 sculpture of the same name. Each awe-inspiring piece sparks an enchanting dialogue between Gehry and the seminal luxury brand: the Capucines Mini Blossom boasts luminous resin petals, embellished with a hammered LV evocative of the architect’s logo design for Fondation Louis Vuitton—which he also designed; and Capucines MM Concrete Pockets brings the signature tactile exterior of Gehry’s constructions to an extraordinary accessory by way of 3D screen printing which imbues the bag with an hypnotic cement effect.
Photo by Yvonne Tnt/BFA, courtesy of Frank Gehry and Louis Vuitton.
“A Tea Party for Louis” Trunk and Les Extraits Perfume Bottles Uplift Artist Collaboration
Additional focal points of the comprehensive show include “A Tea Party for Louis” Trunk, Gehry’s dreamlike piece in honor of the house’s 200th birthday celebration—200 Trunks, 200 Visionaries. Inspired by the mesmeric 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, the sculpture-trunk is embellished with eight imaginative and joyful figurines, representing the book’s unforgettable characters, set within a fantastical Gehry building. Whimsical Les Extraits perfume bottles, and engaging preparatory drawings for the “Celebrating Monogram” endeavor, are met with immersive videos for an enlightening presentation which follows directly in the footsteps of the founder’s grandson, Gaston Louis-Vuitton, and his ardent devotion to meaningful, artistic collaboration.
Photo by Mario Kroes, courtesy of Frank Gehry and Louis Vuitton.
