Storytellers of timeless ambition

Welcome to Spark, a newsletter from Vivace. We curate and publish the most interesting thinking and ideas from our community on themes ranging from business and finance to culture and creativity. Send pitches and feedback to [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.

Hello Spark reader,

Does anyone else have a friend who always seems to pop up on TV? For me, that’s Dr. Sam Willis, or just Sam—an award-winning historian, archaeologist and broadcaster with a knack for entertaining through world-shaping stories. He is the consummate storyteller, so I asked him to share one of his favorite brand stories with us. This time it’s Louis Vuitton.

I hope you enjoy his reflections, and if you have questions you’d like to put to him, let us know.

—Ryan

Trunks and Treasures: The Louis Vuitton Story

Guest essay by Dr Sam Willis

It’s one of the finest pieces of design I’ve ever seen.

It celebrates status, innovation and craftsmanship.

It acts as a bridge between past and present.

And it tells a story.

This is the Coeur de Paris.

This magnificent jewel was the centrepiece of Louis Vuitton’s 2024 high jewellery collection, Awakened Hands, Awakened Minds. The collection consisted of no fewer than 220 unique creations, their largest high jewellery collection to date. The focus of the collection was a celebration of nineteenth-century French craftsmanship—and therefore a celebration of the company’s own roots which lie in Paris, in 1858.

This was the time and place when Louis Vuitton burst onto the international stage, a brand visionary. It’s well known that he began with luggage—in the form of trunks—but in his trunks lay a much, much bigger plan.