#obsession: Louis Vuitton's Cabinet of Curiosities

Gaston-Louis Vuitton (1883–1970) belonged to the third generation of the legendary family of design fame and was the grandson of the founder of the Louis Vuitton brand. Vuitton began collecting when he was a child and accumulated hundreds of objects during his lifetime. As well as building a collection of trunks, he amassed all sorts of things his roving eye lit on: antique travel paraphernalia, locks and escutcheons, tools, perfume bottles, African masks, walking canes, toys, books, hotel labels (usually affixed to trunks), printed monograms and other typographical rarities. 

Together, these items form a personal treasure trove of curiosités industrielles, as Vuitton liked to call them. 

Cabinet of Wonders, The Gaston-Louis Vuitton Collection, written by lifestyle author Patrick Mauriès and published by Thames & Hudson, takes the reader on a privileged tour of the sophisticate’s cabinet of curiosities. The book is illustrated with hundreds of specially commissioned photographs and will capture the imagination of anyone inspired by the bizarre and eclectic, along with amateurs and aficionados with an interest in the Art Deco era. 

The book is available now. 

This article first appeared in the September 2017 print issue of #legend magazine.