Louis Vuitton was founded on trunks and travel accessories, but now it’s one of the Place Vendome’s leading haute joaillerie houses. Its artistic director for jewelry and watches, Francesca Amfitheatrof, has a keen eye for creating transformative pieces.
She takes inspiration from LV’s iconic motifs—from the monogram flower to the LV Volt. She also pays special attention to the hunt for rare stones. Keep reading the article below to learn more about Louis Vuitton Jewelry.
The house celebrates the 200th anniversary of Louis Vuitton’s birth with Bravery, a high jewellery collection that pays tribute to the pioneer spirit of its founder. The nine-chapter collection, led by jewelry and watches artistic director Francesca Amfitheatrof, is a glittering ode to the legendary designer’s legacy of excellence, with emblematic motifs adorned with captivating gemstones.
The first chapter of Bravery – La Constellation d’Hercule – honours Louis Vuitton’s innate strength and conviction. The necklace takes its name from the star configuration visible in the sky when the Maison’s founder was born, blending tanzanites, tsavorites and Australian opals with diamonds cut into the signature Vuitton star logo. The motif is also seen in a ring, bracelet and earrings.
Amfitheatrof and Burke both cite the meticulous process of sourcing rare gem stones as critical to the creative outcome of each piece in Bravery. “It starts with primordial instincts,” Burke says, adding that the hunt for a particular stone can take years as craftsmen patiently wait for it to show itself. Often the best stone is its cousin, its alter ego.”
The second chapter of the collection, Voyage Dans Le Temps, reinterprets iconic codes and symbols from the Louis Vuitton heritage. A ring recalls the nail heads found on trunks and suitcases with an LV cut diamond, while a bracelet recreates the engraved studs of the Damier pattern in rose cut diamonds. Embroidered with the LV flower and an arrow head, the signature motifs are at once familiar and fresh. They form a sophisticated architecture, with clasps and locks acting as the keys to a new language of high jewellery design. All of the diamonds used in Louis Vuitton’s jewelry are Responsible Jewelry Council- and Kimberley Process-certified to ensure a ‘zero conflict’ provenance.
Volcano
The fifth and largest high jewelry collection designed by Louis Vuitton’s Artistic Director of Watches and Jewellery Francesca Amfitheatrof, Deep Time embarks on a profound journey from the birth of the planet to the appearance of life. With 170 unique pieces spanning two acts, this mammoth jewelry set combines the House’s hallmark savoir-faire with its rich geological heritage.
The first chapter, Geology, explores the vast tectonic shifts that shaped the Earth. The story opens with an ode to Gondwana, the supercontinent that unified the land masses of South America, Africa, Madagascar, Australia and Antarctica billions of years ago. An exclusive selection of rare Colombian emeralds highlights this theme, which also showcases fiery pink tourmalines that evoke volcanic eruptions and the cauldrons of lava, along with pear-cut spessartite mandarin garnets.
The Volcano suite evokes Nature’s destructive yet life-giving power with the rumble of seismic activity and the explosion of magma. A diamond ring captures the power of a volcanic burst with its sculptural, hexagonal structure, while a necklace features alternating bars of platinum and gold with pave diamonds and two pear-cut spessartite-mandarin garnets. Fifteen LV Monogram Star cut diamonds complete the piece that took more than 2,000 hours to craft.
As for the second act, Life, it is an ode to the flora and fauna that populate the Earth, with luminous sapphires and lustrous yellow emeralds that illuminate this world of plants and animals. In this chapter, Amfitheatrof reflects on the delicate balance between the earth’s regenerative powers and the destructive force of its elemental forces. As for the tentacular octopus earring, its airbrushed motif invokes primitive art. The octopus’s textured surface and carved details bring to mind the fluidity of sea creatures and the strength of tribal symbolism.
Plants
Francesca Amfitheatrof’s Deep Time high jewellery collection tells the awe-inspiring story of the Earth’s evolution. It is the Maison’s most extensive High Jewellery collection, with a total of 170 unique pieces, including 95 in the first chapter alone. Each piece is an ode to nature’s beauty, reimagined in Louis Vuitton’s signature Monogram floral motif.
The first chapter, Geology, begins with Gondwana, one of the great supercontinents that formed our planet. Each of the nine platinum creations in this theme is a fine demonstration of sculptural excellence, with a choice of rare Colombian emeralds – a necklace, earrings and rings.
In the second act, Life, Louis Vuitton’s artisans have captured the beauty of epochs past in masterfully executed jewels. From the enchanting radiance of fossilized treasures to the lush landscapes of prehistoric eras, each creation is the embodiment of the Maison’s values.
The collection also includes a single-strand necklace featuring a diamond and gold trellis pattern adorned with a sprinkling of rubellite and spessartite garnet cabochons in a pink and yellow gold setting, as well as a set of five bracelets and a ring inspired by the petals of a rose. It features the unpickable Tumbler lock, a clasp whose design was first introduced in 1909. The collection also pays tribute to the richness of the natural world through its Flowers theme, featuring a medallion necklace made from over 130 rainbow-coloured sapphires and rubies.
Wings
A curated collection of Louis Vuitton jewelry designs including necklaces, earrings and more. Made from authentic repurposed Louis Vuitton designer buttons, bag charms and other hardware pieces.
Amid candlelight and men holding torches, Louis Vuitton presented its latest high jewelry collection, Spirit, in Marrakech last June, a fitting venue for this ode to dragons and phoenixes, the fierce and the beautiful. It was the fourth collection of Louis Vuitton’s new Artistic Director of Watches and Jewelery, Francesca Amfitheatrof, who debuted it alongside actress Cate Blanchett, who wore several of the pieces to the event.
Amfitheatrof’s passion for jewelry and her interest in the brand’s history have prompted a fresh perspective of its iconic motifs. The Empreinte line evokes the house’s trunk-making heritage with rings and pendants that feature hollowed-out impressions like those of LV trunk studs, while open-worked cutouts of the four-petalled Monogram Flower and the LV initials are found on medallions, long chains and cords that transform into multi-strand bracelets or stacked necklaces. The hoop earrings and ear cuffs, which come in gold and silver-color finishes, are designed to be mixed and matched to suit an individual style.
While most of the high-jewelry pieces are out of reach for the average person, Amfitheatrof has also built a series of more accessible signature pieces that riff on the logo in a contemporary way, a style she honed during her time at Tiffany’s. For instance, the Volt range features a graphic take on the LV initials in an abstract pattern, while the LV Monogram Star-Cut Diamond Earrings feature 15 recut diamonds that recall the stars of the LV monogram.
Flowers
The Maison’s illustrious heritage shines through in pieces that channel the brand’s legendary codes. The LV monogram continues to be a hallmark across the collection, including stackable rings and pendant necklaces. But there are also designs sans-logo that elevate your everyday style with a sense of je ne sais quoi. Discover Idylle Blossom and Color Blossom, two high-jewellery collections that celebrate flowers.
These creations are inspired by Louis Vuitton’s rich history of travel and exploration. It all began in 1854 when the French entrepreneur Georges Vuitton set up shop at Place Vendome, kitting out intrepid European travellers with his new-fangled, flat-topped, water-tight steamer trunks. This spirit of adventure and voyaging where others had never been before continues to inspire Louis Vuitton jewellery designers to this day.
In the latest high-jewellery collection, Fantasy, the House’s iconic chevron pattern is reimagined through a fusion of dualities that create bold, dynamic pieces. A ring featuring a lustrous, yellow gold V intertwined with a pavé diamond one is a playful take on repetition and layering while another ring features a double-row of LV cut diamonds that mirror the shape of the House’s monogram.
The second chapter of the Spirit collection is a homage to Louis Vuitton’s heritage with a monochrome collection called La Mini Malle, designed by Francesca Amfitheatrof. This elegant and refined collection features a close-fitting chain-link choker and sautoirs necklace pavé-set with white diamonds, Colombian emeralds that represent the forests and the Maison’s LV Monogram star and flower-cuts. The pieces are meant to be worn individually or layered together, reflecting the multifaceted Louis Vuitton woman and her ability to adapt to different moods and occasions.
