By Lucy Rees for Galerie
On Paris’s magnificent Place Vendôme, a metallic sun radiates across the stately façade of Louis Vuitton’s Peter Marino–designed flagship.
The renowned architect has filled two hôtel particuliers with a striking mix of blue-chip contemporary art, design, and rare vintage furnishings. Of course, products aren’t the only thing a brand becomes known for and in this art-infused flagship, Louis Vuitton provide an experience that continues to surprise and delight, providing a compelling reason to visit, with or without the product.
‘On Paris’s magnificent Place Vendôme, a metallic sun radiates across the stately façade of Louis Vuitton’s just-opened, Peter Marino–designed flagship. The installation is a glittering prelude to 32 pieces by more than 20 emerging and blue-chip artists displayed around the boutique, which is housed in two restored 18th-century hôtels particuliers. “Much of the artwork is joyful, and positioned to play off the architecture,” says Marino, whose curatorial choices included vividly hued spheres by Annie Morris, an embroidered portrait in eye-popping yellow by Farhad Moshiri, and Vik Muniz’s photographic tributes to Henri Fantin-Latour. Interspersed throughout are rare vintage furnishings by the likes of Eugène Printz and Paul Evans, plus there’s an immersive video room that offers peeks into exhibitions at the Fondation Louis Vuitton across town. “Shopping should be fun and a learning experience,” says Marino, “not the dull mechanical pushing of Internet buttons.”’
Louis Vuitton’s visual image director Faye Mcleod conjured the striking metallic sun that graces the flagship’s façade. PHOTO: STÉPHANE MURATET, COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON
A colorful work by Kimiko Fujimura in the shop. PHOTO: STÉPHANE MURATET, COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON
Vividly hued spheres by Annie Morris near the staircase. PHOTO: STÉPHANE MURATET, COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON
The shop is the first home for the Louis Vuitton’s Objets Nomades collection. PHOTO: STÉPHANE MURATET, COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON
Chinese artist Yan Pei Ming painted the above portrait, viewed here from the second story. PHOTO: STÉPHANE MURATET, COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON
A portrait by Yan Pei Ming looms above the ground floor, which also boasts a mounted wall installation by Laurent Grasso. PHOTO: STÉPHANE MURATET, COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON
A striking yellow painting by Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri overlooks the jewelry display. PHOTO: STÉPHANE MURATET, COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON
A work by Rashid Rana depicts the Place Vendôme and its column. PHOTO: STÉPHANE MURATET, COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON
Talisman Table by India Mahdavi. PHOTO: LOUIS VUITTON MALLETIER/PHILIPPE LACOMBE
Peter Marino, clad in his signature leather, stands near the Annie Morris installation. PHOTO: STÉPHANE MURATET, COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON
Launched in 2016 by Hudson Publishing LLC, Galerie magazine is a quarterly publication that engages readers who have a passion for art and design.