The founder of LV is Louie Vuitton. The brand has held power in the Vuitton family until the fifth generation. After the listing in the 1980s, the management of the company was gradually controlled by Bernard Arnault, the current boss of LVMH. Subsequently, the Vuitton family gradually withdrew from management. Today, the Vuitton family only plays an advisory role in the company, taking part in the management of the family archive (museum) and the management of the special handmade order studio, and acting as a family representative to speak or do handicraft shows when the company needs it.

Louis Vuitton is a brand that almost everyone knows. However, it is estimated that not many people know the history of LV's brand development. In 2012, Louis Vuitton commissioned its communications director to write The book "Louis Vuitton: The Birth of Modern Luxury." Interested friends can go to see. The following is a summary of my reading in our book club:

In the era of Louis Vuitton, there was a profession called box-maker/packer, which literally means "suitcase maker and packer". In the first half of the 19th century in Europe, people traveled mostly by horse (car). Therefore, at that time, there was a lot of attention to the production and packaging of suitcases. Because there are so many bumps in the road, the box has to be very strong. So before LV's new box was invented, everyone used wood boxes.

Because it is not easy to go out once, and the nobility travel items are particularly mixed and many - hard and soft items; Large and small; Regular and irregular shapes...... Therefore, whether it is the internal structure of the box or packaging, it is a high-tech job. The packer should put different kinds of items neatly in the limited space, and ensure that the items will not collide with each other.

Louie Vuitton, the founder of Louis Vuitton, started his career as a carpenter who specialized in making boxes and packaging. At the same time, however, he was also a very courageous and extremely intelligent carpenter. At the age of 10, he left his hometown and went to Paris, where he traveled alone, lived on his own craft, and opened his first shop in 1854. The shop is opposite the Tuileries Palace (the name of the royal palace, one of the royal palaces where Napoleon III and his wife Empress Eugenie lived).

What makes Louie Vuitton different from other carpenters is that he has a design mind. He had been wanting to change the wooden box although strong, but also very heavy problem. So he finally invented a suitcase made of canvas, in order to solve the problem that the canvas is light enough but not strong enough, he added wooden strips and leather and metal angles on the basis of the canvas to strengthen the stability of the box (see the picture below).

When more people began to imitate LV's practice, the founder later invented a canvas fabric printed with his own special pattern, and signed his name as his "brand identity". In the picture below, there is already the prototype of the LV plaid we see today.

LV's design concept of designing boxes at that time is also very worthy of reference for today's designers:

1, design to use as much material as possible, do not waste;

2, the box should be strong and light;

3, in the design of the internal structure of the box, as far as possible to consider all the possibilities of stuffing items;

4, most importantly, let the box service goods; Not goods service boxes.

These days, even if applied to today's design, it is also worth learning. Look at our clothing design today, fabric waste; And what is it about adapting the body to the clothes? Or are clothes adapted to the human body? A lot of designers don't think about it.

The relationship with the royal family is also an important reason for LV's late development (many luxury products have been launched with the royal family). The fact is that personal knowledge and ability are the foundation, and opportunities from noble people are another important reason for how much development can be achieved.

LV's classic Monogram logo (the pattern in the picture below), which we now see, was also carefully chosen by the LV family.

This Chinese is called "presbyopia" LOGO, the original choice of this presbyopia (four-leaf petals) is for a reason. When the LV family (the second generation) chose this LOGO, they did a lot of literature research.

They took inspiration from the Japanese and European family coats of arms, and found that this four-leaf petal is a pattern that people can recognize almost all over the world regardless of culture or nationality, and this pattern does not have a derogatory meaning in any culture. They are also found in churches. In short, global universality is an important reason for LV to choose presbyopia as a logo. This also shows that LV has a very early sense of globalization.

LV has been passed down for 5 generations in the hands of family members, which itself has shown that the family is exceptionally excellent in both private education and business accomplishment. So in each subsequent generation, each leader has methodically promoted the development of the enterprise:

The second generation, George, entered the London market in 1885, the beginning of a move into the world market; And designed the presbyopia LOGO we see now.

The third generation, Gorton, has had excellent artistic perception and cultivation since childhood. Because of poor health, it is inconvenient to go out, and he read a lot of books at home when he was young. Therefore, LV is endowed with more artistic elements in both design and window display. At the same time, it also began to broaden LV's product line to a wider range, such as bottles, furniture and so on. Louis Vuitton began selling perfume in 1928. Bring LV to the European and American markets.

The fourth generation, Henry, truly built LV into an international brand and entered the markets of Japan, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The fourth generation of family members formally left the management of the business in 1990. At present, the fifth generation of family members mainly do some corporate culture, historical archives and data collection, sorting out archival work.

Therefore, in fact, before the establishment of LVMH, Louis Vuitton was already a very successful luxury brand. The latter story is well known. Louis Vuitton merged with Moet Hennessy to form LVMH, and BERNARD ARNAUD was one of the men who helped group and capitalise the business.