Frank Gehry: architecture-informed handbags for Louis Vuitton

During Miami Art Week, Frank Gehry, the Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect, debuted 11 limited-edition handbags for the fashion company Louis Vuitton at Art Basel Miami Beach.

The line, dubbed Louis Vuitton x Frank Gehry, has bags inspired by the structures and creatures of the Canadian-American architect.

They were on show at Art Basel Miami Beach as part of an installation that also included some of Gehry’s earlier designs for the company.

Gehry redesigned three Louis Vuitton Capucines bags for the collection, drawing inspiration from the shape and texture of some of his most well-known structures.

The six Plexiglas panels that make up the shimmering, translucent finish of the Capucines BB Shimmer Haze bag were inspired by the Seattle Museum of Pop Culture.

On the other hand, the multi-layered calfskin finish of the Capucines MM Concrete Pockets bag was inspired by the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

The Capucines BB Analog Bag, which features angled leather parts screen-printed with portions of the building’s facade, was inspired by the IAC Building in New York.

Three more Louis Vuitton Capucines bags—two of which had fish on them—were redesigned with animal accents.

Gehry designed a fish-shaped lighting element for the Foundation Louis Vuitton in 2014, which served as the inspiration for the Capucines MM Fish bag. It was reproduced in the form of a purse, with the smooth white leather outside paired with a multi-toned red leather fish.

Gehry’s illustration of a fish is embroidered on the white crocodile leather Capucines Mini Drawn Fish bag in addition to this.

The other two bags with animal themes are scaled down versions of Gehry’s earlier works. He reworked a sculpture of a crocodile for the brass handle of the Capucines BB Croc bag, which features an abstract yellow print on Taurillon leather and was created for the London restaurant Sexy Fish.

The life-sized Bear with Us sculpture, which Gehry produced in 2014 and is currently on exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art, is replicated in miniature form as the Bear With Us Clutch, a bear-shaped bag.

The Capucines Mini Puzzle and Capucines Mini Blossom are two more Capucines bags that have vibrant, petal-like shapes.

While the Capucines Mini Blossom features three petals made of glass-like resin inspired by Gehry’s Les Extraits perfume bottles for Louis Vuitton, the Capucines Mini Puzzle is covered with hand-painted, interlocking lambskin petals.

Gehry returned to his Twisted Box bag for the collection’s last two pieces. The bag was first developed as a part of the Celebrating Monogram series, which was launched in 2014 to commemorate Louis Vuitton’s 160th anniversary.

The bag was replicated in black and silver and has the brand’s monogram engraved on a leather surface.

Gehry said he wanted to play around and enjoy himself with the collection.

“It’s not something I usually do – handbags – so it’s a search for ideas,” he stated. “Every creative person goes through that, it’s very similar to making a movie, shooting a rocket to the moon.”

“There are very various levels of creativity and the expertise you bring to it are years of experience and in my case I’ve built a lot of buildings so I can shorthand stuff – I’ve been having a lot of fun at my young age of 94,” he said.