Louis Vuitton & The Six Artists Who Contributed to the Artycapucines collection

These international artists rework the classic LV bag, the Capucines, into objet d’art.

Louis Vuitton has invited six leading contemporary artists to reinvent the classic LV bag, the Capucines, in their aesthetic. Welcoming an alphabet of international artists, Beatriz Milhazes, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Josh Smith, Henry Taylor, Liu Wei, and Zhao Zhao have all created stunningly beautiful reworked pieces of art; all pushing their artisanal boundaries.

The Artycapucines collection showcases Louis Vuitton’s unique ability to innovate and use the platform to support other artists to bring their ideas to life in a new way. Launched today, each bag in the Artycapucines collection will be released in a limited edition of 200 in selected stores worldwide.

Read more about each individual bag, below:

Louis Vuitton Capucines By Liu Wei

Beijing-based artist, Liu Wei is known for jumping between media. Fittingly, his Artycapucines is based upon Microworld, a large-scale sculptural installation shown at the 2019 Venice Biennale. The aluminum petals recreated for the bags make use of five different types of silver-colored leather. To learn more about Wei’s retro-futurist touch and design elements click here

Louis Vuitton Capucines by Beatriz Milhazes

Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes’ Artycapucines bag is a technical and artisanal achievement. Using 18 different types of leather, the artist found innovative and novel marquetry techniques to rework the fabric to the same thickness. To learn more about how she created the kaleidoscopic of different textures click here

Louis Vuitton Capucines by Zhao Zhao

Chinese artist Zhao Zhao’s Artycapucines is based on his 2018 sculpture, In Extremis No.3. The metal components featured on his bag are transformed into 353 individual laser-cut patches from 5 different types of leather. Then, the patches are hand-embroidered, machine-embroidered, printed, or worked into relief. To learn more about the meticulous process that literally molded Zhao Zhao’s Capucines, click here.

Louis Vuitton Capucines by Jean-Michel Othoniel

Jean-Michel Othoniel’s Artycapucines is pure joy. The main body of the Capucines is hand-woven in raffia and trimmed with black satin silk used in haute couture. The exclusive bag is exaggerated with black resin beads showcase the best of the French artist’s expertise in large scale works. To learn more about Jean-Michel Othoniel’s aesthetic click here.

Louis Vuitton Capucines by Henry Taylor

Henry Taylor’s brings a portrait of the late Noah Davis, the Black American artist and founder of LA’s Underground Museum, to his Artycapucines. The Californian artist’s 2017 portrait is reproduced on the leather… Each brush stroke and varied textures replicated… Requiring over 100 experiments to test different 2D and 3D printing methods, learn more about how Taylor bought this tactile portrait to life, here.

Louis Vuitton Capucines by Josh Smith

New York-based artist, Josh Smith’s Artycapucines is based on his signature “name” paintings. In order to translate the brightly colored painting, the bag’s cotton canvas exterior was first embroidered with white-colored stitches to replicate brushstrokes. Learn more about how to artist created depth and used pure pear wood to create the LV emblem, here

 

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