Louis Vuitton Expands The Objets Nomades

Lara Mansour   |   11-05-2018

Louis Vuitton enriches it’s Objets Nomades collection with 10 new items that were presented at The Salone del Mobile in Milan. Les Petits Nomades is a new collection of decorative objects from leading contemporary designers.

 

 

Created in 2012, the Objets Nomades collection keeps alive Louis Vuitton’s long tradition of beautifully crafted travel objects. Some of the world’s most renowned designers have since imagined stunning travel-inspired Objets, which have then been made by Louis Vuitton. This year, two new designers have joined the collection: India Mahdavi and Tokujin Yoshioka.

 

The limited editions and experimental prototypes that make up the Objets Nomades collection all pay homage to the House’s special orders of the past – such as the iconic Bed Trunk produced in 1874 for French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza – and add the defiantly contemporary visions of creative designers from around the world: Atelier Oï, Maarten Baas, Barber and Osgerby, the Campana Brothers, Damien Langlois-Meurinne, Nendo, Gwenaël Nicolas, Raw Edges, Patricia Urquiola, Marcel Wanders, and, most recently, India Mahdavi and Tokujin Yoshioka.

 

 

Today, there are 25 Objets Nomades, from a hammock to a deckchair, a swing chair to a foldable stool. Each project has been an opportunity for the designers and Louis Vuitton’s creative artisans to combine their savoir-faire to interpret the idea of travel in their own imaginative ways. Each Objet embodies their shared ideals: a love of the beauty of fine materials, the possibility of forms and carefully balanced proportions, complex and meticulous craftsmanship, and close attention to detail.

 

 

These values are clearly present in the 10 Objets Nomades recently added to the collection, such as the Campana Brothers’ playful sofa, inspired by clouds and the shell Botticelli painted for Venus; Atelier Oï’s stunning chair, with its repurposed straps resembling leather belts; Marcel Wanders’ modern, richly malletage-leather rocking chair; and India Mahdavi’s talisman-inspired nomade side table with its remarkable leather marquetry.

 

Over 160 years after Louis Vuitton began exploring new territories and ideas of travel, the Objets Nomades collection can be seen as proof that the House has lost none of its sense of adventure.

 

©Louis Vuitton Malletier – Odile Le Moal

 

ANDRÉ FU

 

“It is important to me to create forums in which people can gather and interact in person.”

 

André Fu was born in Hong Kong, educated in the UK from the age of 14, and studied architecture at the University of Cambridge. He credits his 30 years of travelling between Asia and Europe to define his style and unique blend of craft and innovation. He founded his design studio AFSO in Hong Kong in 2000 and since then has worked on hotels, restaurants, galleries, installations and retail spaces worldwide, including the Upper House Hotel in Hong Kong, Singapore’s Andaz Hotel, Villa la Coste in Aix en Provence and the Pavilion Suites at the Berkeley, London. Among his most recent projects was Galerie Perrotin’s new gallery space in Tokyo. Fu has won numerous awards and in 2016, was named Designer of the Year at Maison&Objet Asia, and included in Wallpaper* magazine’s Top 20 Interior Designers.

 

 

RIBBON DANCE

André Fu’s two-person “conversation” chair is a graceful echo of the movements of traditional Asian ribbon dances. Its pair of seats sit balanced between the elegant curves of the wooden arms covered in Louis Vuitton leather, their shape evoking ideas of infinity and giving the chair its delightfully fluid profile.

©Benjamin Decoin

 

PATRICIA URQUIOLA

 

“Nomadism is for me a condition of contemporaneity and lightness.”

 

Spanish-born Patricia Urquiola has been living and working in Milan, Italy, since the mid-1980s. She graduated from the city’s Politecnico in 1989 and went on to work for a number of renowned architects and design companies, including Alessi, Cappellini and Kartell. In 2001, she founded her own design agency, and two years later was awarded the Best System prize for her Fjord collection. Her body of work, which shows a pronounced taste for colours and a wide variety of materials, now includes an armchair (Smock), a chaise longue (Antibody) and a lamp (Chasen).

 

 

SWING CHAIR

Patricia Urquiola’s swing chair invites you to kick back and sway in the breeze in a handbag-inspired design featuring two large, Nomade leather-covered metallic “handles” and a welcoming woven mesh. Held up by gold-plated hooks and beige cord, the chair ensures your comfort with a welcoming Nomade leather seat cushion and woolen back cushion.

 

 

OVERLAY BOWL

Each one of Milan-based designer Patricia Urquiola’s Overlay Bowl is made of just four cleverly assembled sheets of smooth but hardwearing Louis Vuitton leather. Featuring harmonious colours and contrasting edge-dying, the baskets – which come in three sizes – are all individually handmade, making each one a one-off sculpture and a beautiful example of the House’s leather work savoir-faire.

 

©Cyrille George Jerusalmi

 

MARCEL WANDERS

 

“We have always seen Louis Vuitton as the benchmark of what it means to love your craft.”

 

Born in 1963 in Boxtel, the Netherlands, Marcel Wanders founded his design studio in 1995 with the aim of “creating an environment of love, and living with passion to make our most exciting dreams come true”. His design approach often mixes innovative materials and techniques with historical standards, a combination that give his work a poetic and romantic feeling. Alongside his furniture, he has designed a number of stores and hotels, including the Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht Hotel in the Netherlands, and works as art director for design label Moooi. His work has been included in design collections and exhibitions across the world at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the V&A, London; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningean, Rotterdam.

 

 

DIAMOND SCREEN

 

Whether suspended on its metal frame or hanging from the ceiling, the leather screen artfully creates a semi-transparent partition that references both the diamond shape of the House’s classic Monogram pattern and the canework once used in its trunks. As each piece is held to its neighbours with brass clasps similar to those found on Louis Vuitton bags, the screen can be sized to fit any space.

 

 

DIAMOND MIRROR

In collaboration with Louis Vuitton, Marcel Wanders is presenting two Diamond Mirrors (2018) as part of the Objets Nomades collection at Fuori Salone this April. The mirrors have been designed in two sizes and are referred to as the large Diamond Mirror and the petit Diamond Mirror. They feature a central octagon that is circled by 25 smaller triangular mirrors and use dazzling geometric design to create poetic reflections. Each mirror’s faceted rigid structure is enveloped in Louis Vuitton’s rich Nomade leather and reveals Louis Vuitton’s emblematic contrasting stitching. The petits Diamond Mirrors are mounted on a heavyweight silvery brass stand with a marble foot.

 

©Benjamin Decoin

 

FERNANDO & HUMBERTO CAMPANA

 

“Above all, travel of fers the unique opportunity to embark on a new exploration.”

 

Fernando & Humberto Campana Fernando and Humberto Campana have been creating modern classics since 1983. Their creativity is based upon looking beyond the obvious to capture the beauty in the everyday. They use unexpected materials in surprising and inspiring ways, such as in the Vermelha chair, woven in brightly coloured rope they found in a São Paulo market, or the Favela chair, made out of scrap wood picked up on local streets. With a constantly striking use of colour and a heartfelt dedication to craftsmanship, the brothers make the ordinary extraordinary and bring out the beautiful in the simple.

 

Since 2002, Estudio Campana, their São Paulo-based company, has been producing its own product line, as well as one-of f handmade pieces. Their work can be seen in the permanent collections of cultural institutions around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein; and the Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo. They were also named Designers of the Year at Design Miami in 2008, at Maison & Objet Paris in 2012, and were given a special award at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, in September 2012.

 

 

COCOON

 

See it swinging gently from its gilded steel and brass hook and the cocoon becomes an invitation to while away the day. A delicately perforated pod of vacuum-moulded fiberglass – the same material as surfboards – is then covered with calfskin on the exterior and quilted leather on the inside. With its broadcloth-covered cushions that are both warm and comforting, the cocoon is like a protective shell designed to enfold, envelop and reassure. It is of fered in red, yellow, turquoise, purple, caramel, light blue, dark blue, coral, grey or green leather.

 

 

TROPICALIST VASE

 

A carefully crafted construction of 176 two-tone, leather-covered metal “petals”, the Tropicalist Vase is a statement to the different ways that Louis Vuitton’s materials can be crafted. The Campana Brothers were the designers of the first ever Objet Nomade and their Louis Vuitton Les Petits Nomades Tropicalist Vase, inspired by South American quesnalia and bromeliad flowers, is the latest example of their timeless vision of exuberant refinement.

 

©Géraldine Aresteanu

 

INDIA MAHDAVI

 

“Design is about giving function a form.”

 

After studying architecture, industrial, graphic and furniture design, India Mahdavi spent seven years as creative director for interior designer Christian Liaigre. She founded her own studio in 2000 and, from her base on Rue Las Cases in Paris, has since worked internationally on interior design, scenography, furniture and object design projects. These have included restaurants and hotels, such as The Gallery at sketch in London, Ladurée in Geneva and Los Angeles, and The Monte Carlo Beach Hotel; retail concepts, most recently, Red Valentino in Rome and London; and a line of furniture and home accessories, including her trademark Charlotte armchairs. She describes her style as “polyglot and polychrome”.

 

 

 

TALISMAN TABLE

 

India Mahdavi’s side table, inspired by Middle Eastern nomadic hospitality, features a portable leather-covered base that unfolds like a book and a removable tabletop whose “benevolent eye” design is created in stunning leather marquetry.

 

©Benjamin Decoin

 

ATELIER OÏ

 

“Encounters and life experience nourish our atelier’s savoir-faire.”

 

Founded in La Neuveville, Switzerland, in 1991 by Aurel Aebi, Armand Louis and Patrick Raymond, Atelier Oï works to break down barriers between genres and disciplines. The three have worked on projects in architecture, design and set design, nurturing their love of materials and emotion. The studio’s work has been recognised the world over.

 

 

TABOURET

 

Folded it appears like a single sheet of leather; unfolded with one hand however, it magically becomes an intelligent and beautifully designed leather travel stool. Combining the traditional Japanese art of origami with Louis Vuitton’s savoir-faire in traditional trunkmaking techniques, the stool is an extraordinary object: a rigid aluminium membrane wrapped in soft Nomade leather. With its carrying strap and wide range of colours, the stool by Atelier Oï takes portable seating to wherever your desires lead you, from the banks of the Ganges to the dunes of the Sahara or the deck of a yacht. It is off ered in caramel, black, brown, yellow, blue, pink, orange and purple leather.

 

 

LEATHER ROSACE VASE

Swiss design studio Atelier Oï has taken the ingenious direction of exploring leather properties, and applied it to Louis Vuitton’s iconic savoir-faire. The results are Origami Flowers,15 differently coloured individually crafted leather blooms; Leather Rosace Vase and Tray, which inspired by the pattern of the House’s Monogram creating a bi-colored relief; and the Flower Field Cushion with its folded leather pattern, a nod to the Hammock that Atelier Oï created for the Objets Nomades collection.

 

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