The Louis Vuitton monogram is a simple pattern, rows of four symbols: interlocking LVs, a diamond, a flower, and a quatrefoil. But what do they mean? No one is quite sure. Are they based on the tiles in the Vuitton home in Asnières? Do they follow the lines in a Coptic tapestry in Paris’s Cluny Museum? Doesn’t the four-leaf flower look like the stone quatrefoil on the Doge’s Palace in Venice?
One thing is certain: Georges Vuitton first put them together in 1896 as a tribute to his father Louis, who had recently passed away. The monogram was also created to protect the company from plagiarists, who had begun to copy its checkerboard Damier canvas.
Yes, even then.
Let visitors to the maison’s new flagship, at 2 Place Vendôme, try unriddling the mystery in the new five-story space, designed by Peter Marino. It’s a scavenger hunt of the highest order. Guests might try to imagine what is taking shape on the benches of the High Jewelry workshop, under the eaves on the fifth floor. The new space occupies two combined historic buildings and showcases both Vuitton’s finished designs and the métiers and craftsmanship that produce them.
“This venue is very symbolic for Louis Vuitton,” says Louis Vuitton chairman and CEO Michael Burke, “as Place Vendôme is one of the most beautiful examples of French artistry. As the worthy heir to this tradition, it was only natural for Louis Vuitton to establish workshops to showcase its creations here, thus ensuring that the legacy continues for future generations.”
The structures, hôtel particuliers that have been home to Parisian nobles, the occasional princess, and even, briefly, Napoleon III, provide the space necessary to weave a complete narrative: past and present, tradition and technology, process and creation.
“With Vendôme,” says Burke, “we will be offering a voyage unlike any other: a voyage into the 19th century, to the era of Louis Vuitton, transported by the splendor and authenticity of a period townhouse. It is a voyage of initiation that will lead our clients to the very source of the world of Louis Vuitton.”
Marino adds, "The Place Vendome facades were created for Louis XIV and are marvelously Baroque, but they were stage sets for the King. The work behind them was not completed in his lifetime and are not considered of equal historical importance. So, as a philosophy, I thought I would juxtapose a modern aesthetic to everything within the walls and restore as beautifully and faithfully as possible the exterior."
The workshop is on the top floor, but there will be finished pieces on the ground floor, deliberately situated to face Place Vendôme, long a central location for the city’s haute joaillerie. A preserved 18th-century stone staircase is finished with high-tech glass. Nicolas Ghesquière’s forward-thinking ready-to-wear is not far from a showcase of traditional workmanship. An installation of contemporary art stands beside one-of-a-kind trunks from the early 20th century.
The jewels themselves—both those for sale in the vitrines and the High Jewelry mini-masterpieces being worked on upstairs—connect the dots of the Vuitton story in a way that is satisfying yet subtle. The symbols in that widely recognized monogram are present, but only if one knows where to look. As with all exquisitely made pieces, the technique is invisible but omnipresent.
Look especially carefully at the newest High Jewelry collection, Conquêtes, which debuted in July and inspired the three sets created specifically to celebrate the opening of the Place Vendôme maison. And while one might get distracted by the rare paraíba tourmalines, Burmese jade, Australian opals, Colombian emeralds, and strawberry spinels, deciphering the Vuitton hieroglyphics in the designs is an equally engaging exercise.
Where is that monogram flower? I think I see it woven into the clasp of a tsavorite and onyx necklace. And is that pattern rendered in diamonds secretly the quatrefoil? It is, done in multiples; it’s the setting for a mandarin garnet. For those who have cracked the code in their jewels, Vuitton has also created a device to keep them safe: The Place Vendôme opening will include the unveiling of a new custom jewelry trunk. It will be on view in the new store in Paris and is now available to order.
This story appears in the November issue of Town & Country
Editor-in-Chief Stellene Volandes is a jewelry expert, and the author of Jeweler: Masters and Mavericks of Modern Design (Rizzoli).
![new york december 14 madeleine albright promotes read my pins at the museum of art and design on december 14, 2009 in new york city photo by andy kropagetty images](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/gettyimages-94432867-660457594f6f6.jpg?crop=0.667xw:1xh;center,top&resize=360:* "Madeleine Albright Promotes "Read My Pins"")
