In 2015 the fashion house Louis Vuitton, asked us to develop some prototypes for its small but growing collection of portable design objects, the ‘Objets nomades’. Inaugurated in Miami in 2012 with the desire to extend the fashion house’s style – which has always been inspired by the theme of travel, ever since the iconic Trianon trunk, flat and reinforced at the corners, designed by the young Louis Vuitton in 1855 and which has since become iconic – to the world of design, this collection grows each year with a new series of objects conceived by internationally renowned designers.
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The concept of the ‘nomadic’ objects is intended to honour the brand’s roots, which originated in luggage at a time when the habit of travelling was taking on a previously unknown magnitude, especially among the wealthy classes. In particular, travel to remote regions, from Siberia to the Mediterranean for tourism, but also to territories still half unknown to Europeans in Africa, America and the Orient. The initial inspiration for the collection is the famous ‘bed trunk’ developed by Louis Vuitton in 1899 for the explorer and diplomat Pietro Savorgnan di Brazzà: a trunk, decorated with the famous monogram, which once opened transforms into a comfortable folding cot. Useful for quickly creating a night bed wherever you are, the bed trunk is the symbol of adventure and exploration trips and is the nomadic – portable, versatile, solid – object par excellence.
The nomadic objects are thus a tribute to the 19th-century imagery of travel, as well as constituting a project that aims – in the words of creative director Nathalie Fremon – to ‘evolve that craftsmanship savoir-faire’ at the root of the famous brand and ‘transport it into contemporary design’. In this sense, the idea of exploring unknown territories, of pioneering, also takes on a more metaphorical meaning, paying homage to the innovative spirit that has always characterised the brand.
With the 2012 initiative, the Maison reconnects to its roots in high-end craftsmanship by going beyond the fashion industry where it has subsequently specialised: the creative tradition of the Louis Vuitton brand thus joins the creativity of internationally renowned designers who, in this way, are supported in tackling experimental paths that would otherwise be difficult to follow.
The encounter between designers and craftsmen is at the heart of this journey, which has brought ‘style outside the home, but also the journey inside the home’. If the first years of the project focused on transportable and foldable objects, later the nomadic character became even more metaphorical, with the production of furniture for interiors and home environments that, however, refer to the dimension of travel.
In 2015, the production of most of the objects imagined by the designers chosen for that edition was entrusted to Sice Previt, now known to the Maison as a trusted producer of objects of the highest quality craftsmanship. For the Objets Nomades, it was also a special year, one of consecration: it was their debut at the Fuorisalone in Milan, a major European design event, where they struck for their bold and original design, less classic than the Maison’s usual style.
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Sice Previt carpenters, decorators, workers and architects, for their part, had to produce very different furniture than usual: not solid display structures, showcases, walls or false ceilings, but lightweight and portable objects such as the folding ‘Ernest’ bed and the portable folding lamp ‘Miller’ by Gwenaël Nicolas, the small folding chair ‘Concertina’ designed by Raw Edges, the ‘Valet’ by Damien Langlois-Meurinne (a kind of vertical, modular and customisable storage unit).
Making these design objects was an unusual job for Sice Previt, but for this reason deeply stimulating, which involved both the designers – for the definition of the detailed project and the engineering of the starting designs – and the carpenters and workers for the realisation. Even more so than usual, the challenge was to produce objects of high quality craftsmanship and impeccable aesthetic appearance, while remaining faithful to the design and at the same time ensuring the solidity of the objects. Not a trivial task given the boldness of the designs, refined in form and ambitious from a structural point of view, in conceiving furniture that was foldable but also functional and resistant.
It was a source of great satisfaction to see these design objects ‘made in Sice Previt’ on display during the FuoriSalone, in the splendid setting of the Palazzo Bocconi chosen by Louis Vuitton – whose set-up, moreover, had also been curated by Sice Previt. Especially memorable was the long corridor lined with fretworked panels painted white, in a play of contrasts with the marble of the walls. Moreover, on this same occasion, the Maison au Bord de l’Eau, a small jewel of modernism realised by Sice Previt following Charlotte Perriand’s historic project (for more details see the dedicated page) was exhibited for the first time in Italy in the palace’s courtyard of honour.
