I just love the boldness of this launch!  While markets crumble, companies lay off numbers in the thousands, and a sentiment of economic doom and gloom permeates… Louis Vuitton’s been hard at work patenting two new diamond cuts!  One is a rounded fleur quatrefoil and the other a pointed fleur.

These diamonds shimmer with an amazing 61 and 77 facets.  You’ll find them included in a various settings in a collection Louis Vuitton is calling “Las Ardentes” which mean “the blazing” or “the burning ones”.  And they are not kidding… one necklace is adorned with 108 carats of diamonds that retails for $4 million.

A few really fascinating quotes:

From Albert Bensoussan, Louis Vuitton’s watch and fine jewelry director,

“With our diamonds, we lose anywhere between 25 and 50 percent of the weight of the rough stone. It is, unfortunately, a huge part of the diamond that is cut away. But the result is something very, very special.”

From Eve Goldberg of jewelry firm William Goldberg,

“There’s so much competition because money is worth less and less, so people want to buy things that hold their value. Diamonds do, but now everybody wants to differentiate themselves even more, so the cuts are getting fancier.”

If you love diamonds, you really have to read this article on the LV Bling from W Magazine.

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OK… so, we’ve played this game before.  Name that boutique with three clues.

1.  Here I am last month… blue skies, but sweater weather for me.

2. The fleur quatrefoil that we know and love from the Louis Vuitton monogram has roots in this European city.

3. The giveaway… bad picture- it had been a long day of sightseeing!!!

(Hmm… as a secondary quiz- what bag am I carrying???)

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OK, my last post inspired me to write this one- so forgive me as I indulge myself…

So, in 1892 after the death of his father- George Vuitton decided to get serious about the counterfeit problem he was having with the copying of Louis Vuitton trunks.  He’d originally introduced Damier (in 1888 and unveiled at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle) for this very purpose.

There are elements of the Louis Vuitton monogram- and quatrefoils (the almost shamrock looking four leaf fleur) in particular, in Gien tiles and elsewhere throughout the Louis Vuitton family home in Asnieres.

(Vuitton Family Residence in Asnieres)

But the quatrefoil pre-dates the late 1890’s.

When I was floating and roaming around Venice, I was literally freaking out at the prevelence of quatrefoils incorporated in the ancient architecture everywhere.  From the Doge’s Palace-

(Doge Palace, Venice)
to random street decorations and wrought iron fencing…

 … and literally everywhere in between.

I buy a Rick Steves’ guide for every trip that we take and I thought this was an interesting little snippet from his Venice book…

I thought it was funny that he says, “The pattern is found on buildings all over Venice, but no where else in the world (except Las Vegas).”  I mean, not true, obviously (I’ve seen this pattern all throughout Europe- from the Notre Dame to the mosaic floor of the Vatican)- but funny.

It’s fascinating that travel is such an important element of Louis Vuitton’s history.  Louis Vuitton will do almost anything, when it comes to custom design of trunks- as long as the function of the piece involves movement- getting something or someone from here to there.  So, it’s interesting to me that at its core- even the inspiration behind the design elements of the Louis Vuitton monogram is so apparent as you travel.

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