In a small hamlet in the Jura region of eastern France, Louis Vuitton was born on August 4, 1821 – exactly 196 years ago.
Few know that the man who built an enviable luxury empire actually had his roots firmly etched in the working class. Louis Vuitton’s father, Xavier Vuitton, was a farmer, and his mother, Coronne Gaillard, a milliner, according to Vogue UK.
Vuitton’s ancestors were carpenters, farmers and milliners or hat-makers.
Vuitton’s passion, dedication to perfection, and unyielding spirit gave him a formidable reputation as a master trunk-maker.
After leaving home for Paris in 1837, Vuitton started off as an apprentice at a successful box-making workshop. Box-making was a well-regarded skill of the time. Within a few years, Vuitton started being noticed far and wide, being called one of the best in business.
But Vuitton’s big ticket came, when in 1853 he was appointed as the personal box-maker and packer of the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, Empress of France, Eugenie de Montijo.
His work for the empress opened Vuitton to all of France’s elite.
The trunk, which was convenient, sturdy, and well-designed, was well-received by those who wanted to travel fashionably by ship or train.
In 1854, Vuitton started his own box-making and packing workshop in Paris, but it was destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71.
After the war ended, the unrelenting Vuitton opened a new workshop in Central Paris. From then onwards, there was no looking back for Vuitton, who scaled his business to monumental heights, until his death on February 27, 1892, after which his son, Georges Vuitton took over and grew the brand that his father had painstakingly built.
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