Louis Vuitton launches an innovative new range of rolling trunks for the 21st-century traveler by celebrated industrial designer Marc Newson.
The new luggage collection is on view for the first time today, July 15, at the Louis Vuitton boutique in Greenbelt 4, Makati.
“What compelled me to join forces with Louis Vuitton was the challenge to design a great piece of luggage, because like a lot of people, I travel a lot and I feel that I am in many ways kind of uniquely placed to be able to do that, as a consumer more so than a designer,” says Newson, who’s known for his work on aircraft, furniture and product design.
The trunk has at its core, a new type of self-reinforced polypropylene composite, essentially representing the structure of the trunk, molded in a mesh matrix of several layers.
Its exceptionally thin, lightweight and elastic characteristics can absorb shocks.
Louis Vuitton’s emblematic Monogram canvas has been expressly developed for the luggage in a new ultra lightweight, a reduction of almost 50 percent, without compromising the original characteristics.
Just like one of Vuitton’s historic trunks, the trunk’s corners are covered in natural cowhide leather as are handles, studied to offer maximum comfort when in use and minimum volume out of use.
The 18 months of development resulted in an increase in internal volume of 15 percent compared to a similar-size trunk with the traditional internal mounted cane, and an unparalleled 37-liter capacity in the cabin size. Lightweight, strong and resistant, the trunk weighs a mere 2.7 kg for the 50-cm version and 3 kg for the cabin size, excluding the inside elements.
These innovations have resulted in three new patent applications, all pending at press time.
Newson says, “I’m obsessive about packing everything into a bag of a certain size, which is why it was so important for me to design a product that could tick all of those boxes and be the kind of perfect piece of luggage for a person like me, that travels and won’t travel with anything more than is absolutely necessary.”
It is produced in Monogram canvas, Monogram Eclipse, Damier Graphite, Taiga leather, in natural cowhide leather and in a rainbow of colors of Epi leather.
The trunk comes in two cabin sizes, 50 and 55 cm. A check-in size 70 will come later on.