The conundrum of how to transport precious objects is one that Louis Vuitton has faced since its founding in 1854. Back then, it was the intricate crinoline gowns and hunting attire of the Parisian aristocracy as they shuttled between their various residences – including Eugénie, Empress of France, wife of Napoleon III, who appointed a young Louis Vuitton as her personal trunk maker. Such was the extent of her wardrobe that it led to his most enduring innovation: the flat-top trunk, which eschewed the traditional curved lid, allowing it to be stacked in piles for transport on trains, carriages and ocean liners.
In the nearly two centuries since, Louis Vuitton's artisans have created all manner of custom trunks for clients, both well-known and anonymous, from those rooted in the original idea of a travelling wardrobe (a 1929 trunk for 30 pairs of shoes; the toolbox-like 1905 ‘Ideal' trunk, designed for a week-long business trip) to the playful and the obscure. There have been casino trunks and library trunks; cases for musical instruments, cakes, watercolour paints, billiard cues and flowers; and those that unfold into beds and desks.
The 2021 trunk for the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco Trophy at the Louis Vuitton workshop in Asnières
Few things, perhaps, are as precious as the trophies for major sporting tournaments, the gleaming spoils of being the best in the world at a given event. There is often just one in existence (winners are usually given a replica for their own trophy cabinet), and they can date back more than a century (the trophy for the America's Cup sailing race is 178 years old), so it is reasonable that their storage is meticulously considered, and not just technically. These are objects that also deserve a certain amount of flair: after all, a trophy can't arrive at a sporting arena in a cardboard box and bubble wrap.
Step in Louis Vuitton, which, in 1988, created its first ‘Trophy' trunk for the America's Cup – a towering design in Epi blue leather – and has gone on to create travelling cases for the sporting world's biggest prizes, from the FIFA World Cup to the NBA finals, as well as cases for medals and torches at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
This year, in January, the house continued a partnership with the Australian Open tennis tournament, seeing the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup arrive on court in a pair of Louis Vuitton trunks. Such was the intricacy of their system of clasps and fastenings, the opening required an on-court rehearsal earlier in the day (for the women's final, the task was down to Thai pop star BamBam and 2001/2002 winner Jennifer Capriati; for the men's, actress Chloë Grace Moretz and 2005 winner Marat Safin).
Sketches of the 2017 Louis Vuitton Challenger's Trophy
These trunks, alongside those created for various other sporting prizes, are crafted in Asnières-sur-Seine on the outskirts of Paris, where Louis Vuitton moved the business in 1859 after outgrowing the studio in the city centre. ‘The “Trophy” trunk stands as a precise expression of our savoir-faire [and] requires absolute rigour, from the alignment of the monogram canvas to the tailored protection of the object it houses,' Pierre- Louis Vuitton, a sixth-generation Vuitton and head of savoir-faire, tells us. ‘This approach is rooted in the historical métier of Louis Vuitton as emballeur, entrusted with securing and protecting the most fragile objects for travel,' he continues, noting that the team still use a quote from Louis Vuitton's son Georges as a mantra: ‘The most important thing is to ensure that one's objects travel in the greatest comfort.'
This year, the house had its most extensive ‘Trophy' trunks project to date: 24 custom-made cases for the 2026 Formula 1 season, designed to house the Grand Prix for each of the 24 circuits. All were handcrafted in Asnières to the various trophies' proportions, encased in monogram canvas and adorned with an enormous ‘V', standing for both Vuitton and Victory – a nod to the ‘Trophy' trunks tagline, ‘Victory travels in Louis Vuitton'. These are hand-painted in a black-and-white version of the house's Damier check, referencing the F1 starting grid, while the stretching of the canvas and the installing of the lozines, locks and clasps replicate techniques used by Louis Vuitton himself.
The 2020 trunk in monogram canvas created to house the Larry O'Brien Trophy for the winner of the NBA finals
Pierre-Louis Vuitton says the ‘Trophy' trunk is a perfect symbol of the house's values: ‘excellence, transmission and invention', a convergence of both function and artisanal flair made possible by the through-line of craft that dates all the way back to his great-great-great-grandfather. ‘While techniques are passed down through generations, every piece remains unique, shaped by the object it will carry,' he says. ‘It is this balance between continuity and adaptation that defines Louis Vuitton's savoir-faire.'
A version of this article appears in the July 2026 Design Directory Issue of Wallpaper*, available from 4 June in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.