Tentacles and Charms Galore: Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami’s Bold New Collaboration

Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami reunite after twenty years. As part of the fourth edition of Art Basel in Paris, the luxury brand presented the seventh edition of its Artycapucines series,a kaleidoscopic reinterpretation of the iconic Capucines bag and collector’s pieces, with elements such as tentacles and a hundred charms included in the eleven pieces.

Leather decorated with gold foil, floral motifs and enameled details reflect the universe of the artist Takashi Murakami, who rejoins his path with that of Louis Vuitton after more than twenty years since their last collaboration, which was in 2003 under the creative direction of Marc Jacobs.

The new alliance has resulted in eleven new interpretations of the brand’s Capucines bags, with an explosion of colors and structural details. The Capucine Mini Mushroom features more than 100 hand-polished 3D resin mushrooms arranged on a mirrored canvas, forming a piece full of charms.

Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami relaunched more than 200 pieces this year in tribute to their first collaboration in 2003

Murakami has illustrated Japanese culture with a mix of kawaii motifs to give life to the Capucines Mini Tentacle, reinterpreting the iconic Mr. Dob of the Japanese artist, in the form of a colorful octopus combining savoir-faire and fantasy. This piece is composed of more than 450 individual elements and requires 75 days for packaging.

“There is tremendous improvement and advancement in techniques on Louis Vuitton’s side, but also on mine. Now I have the 3D team in my studio, so we can exchange corrections and revisions very precisely and thoroughly between Louis Vuitton’s team and mine,“ Murakami said of the collection, which was on display at the luxury brand’s booth at the fourth edition of the Art Basel Paris fair held last October.

The first collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami was also relaunched this year with more than 200 references, from urban bags to accessories such as silk scarves, sunglasses, costume jewelry, sneakers, perfume bottles and a skateboard.