Handle With Care
World of luxury: Exclusive look inside the Louis Vuitton home and workshops
Jul 9, 2013 | 10:12 am
Even though Louis Vuitton is owned by the French conglomerate LVMH, there's still a family feeling at the ancestral home and workshops where trunks and handbags are made in a village outside of Paris. Come along for a special tour.
A worker cuts the distinctive LV logo fabric of natural cowhide leather without using a ruler. He says he has been on the job here since 1988. The interlocking chocolate brown and gold logo with diamond points and Kimono-inspired quatrefoil flowers created by Georges Vuitton in 1896 is among the world's most recognized and copied status symbols. Ironically, it replaced a design that was deemed too easy to copy. Workers know the monogram must never be cut or stitched together and the flowers must correspond perfectly from one edge to another. Otherwise, your bag is a fake.
Photo by © Michelle Watson CatchLightGroup.com