Counting the Métiers

In this ELLE Singapore exclusive, artistic director of watches and jewellery Francesca Amfitheatrof lays bare what goes into the making a LOUIS VUITTON high jewellery collection.

- CHARMAINE HO

With 220 high jewellery masterpieces spread across 13 different themes to its name, Awakened Hands, Awakened Minds is Louis Vuitton's most ambitious collection to date. It tells a story of craftsmanship, artistry, and human creativity through precious gems and metals that have been expertly woven into an impressive tale. The staggering breadth of its designs is complemented by savoir-faire that pays faithful tribute to the collection's inspiration: 19thcentury France, and, with it, the creative, artistic disciplines that flourished during that period. As Louis Vuitton devotees know, that particular century was also one that saw a 16-yearold Louis Vuitton arriving in Paris by foot in 1837 to gain the needed skills that he then put into his own luggage business 17 years later.

As Louis Vuitton's artistic director for watches and jewellery Francesca Amfitheatrof tells us, "Awakened Hands celebrates a particular moment in French history when there was an explosion of incredible savoir-faire; the abolition of the guilds allowed artisans to flourish." The collection, then, is a sincere homage to the Maison's city of birth presented through an impressive array of designs that span the literal to the figurative.