louis vuitton debuts frank gehry handbag collection at art basel miami

Louis Vuitton premieres frank gehry handbags at miami

Louis Vuitton makes a comeback at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach (read our ultimate guide here for details on what’s not to miss during Miami Art Week 2023), bringing the debut of the limited-edition Frank Gehry handbag collection for the first time. Louis Vuitton’s Art Basel Miami Beach stand showcases the Frank Gehry capsule, which is centered around three themes that point toward the architect’s long-life career, including Architecture and Form, Material Exploration, and Animals. Viewers are encouraged to roam around the booth between December 8th and 10th, 2023, in the West Lobby of the Miami Beach Convention Center.

The Louis Vuitton x Frank Gehry handbag collection features designs that evoke the Maison’s Capucines bags, the Twisted Box Trunk, and a Bear With Us Clutch which is based upon Frank Gehry’s 2014 Bear with Us sculpture. A selection of the works that Frank Gehry produced during his longstanding collaboration with Louis Vuitton is also on display inside the architectural booth of the Maison at the Art Basel Miami Beach. From its exterior alone, Frank Gehry’s style is already omnipresent.

images courtesy of Louis Vuitton | product images at Frank Gehry’s Studio by Mario Kroes

a scenography at art basel miami stand of louis vuitton

Louis Vuitton creates a scenography to introduce its limited-edition Frank Gehry handbag collection at the Art Basel Miami Beach. Wood and cardboard models emerge inside the booth, brushing against the five enveloping sail-like mesh structures that nod to Frank Gehry’s 2014 window displays for Louis Vuitton. The interior is organized into four themes that are closely linked to the architect, namely Architecture and Form, Material Exploration, Animals, and his Twisted Box creation for Celebrating Monogram.

To bring out the tangible objects related to these themes, the items on display fully encapsulate Frank Gehry’s collaboration with Louis Vuitton, from the handbags, trunks, and perfume bottles to original artworks, preparatory sketches, and architectural models. Here, visitors can scrutinize the handbag collection and see Capucines Mini Blossom with its glass-like resin petals, inspired by perfume bottles, and the hammered LV recalling the logo Frank Gehry created for the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

Louis Vuitton returns to Art Basel Miami Beach for the debut of Frank Gehry handbag collection

Frank gehry crafts figurines reminisce of alice in wonderland

On display too is a Capucines MM Floating Fish handbag made with crafted leather which embodies a design inspired by fish lamps found at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Another Capucines MM Concrete Pockets handbag comes up, employing a 3D cement-effect printing technique on its calfskin exterior, creating textures similar to Frank Gehry’s architectural style.

Louis Vuitton’s Art Basel Miami Beach stand also brings back Frank Gehry’s sculpture trunk, a collection of eight figurines inspired by Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The architect created these figurines for the 200 Trunks, 200 Visionaries exhibition that celebrated Louis Vuitton’s 200th birthday. For Art Basel Miami Beach, these sculptures are spotlighted alongside the model of an imaginary Frank Gehry building, completing what the architect describes as a tea party for Louis Vuitton founder similar to a scene in Alice in Wonderland.

the collection features designs that evoke Capucines bags, the Twisted Box Trunk, and a Bear With Us Clutch

Other Frank Gehry projects and artworks for Louis Vuitton on display include his Les Extraits perfume bottles and their stoppers handcrafted in Murano, Italy, and the Flaconnier Les Extraits designed to transport them. There is also a selection of sketches and models by Frank Gehry, such as preparatory drawings for his work on the Celebrating Monogram project and maquettes exploring his design for the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

These are accompanied by videos illustrating the architect’s most famous collaborations with Louis Vuitton, and a painted portrait of the architect by French artist Jean-Philippe Delhomme. Visitors are free to roam around Louis Vuitton’s stand between December 8th and 10th, 2023, in the West Lobby of the Miami Beach Convention Center during the Art Basel Miami Beach.

a selection of the works that Frank Gehry has produced during his collaboration with Louis Vuitton is also on display