Ten years after the first collaboration, the incredible fusion of Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama is back and not going unnoticed in the eyes of the world.
A brief biography about Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Nagano. She is known for her use of repetitive patterns and bright colours in her works.
Kusama moved to New York in 1950 and became an important figure in the New York art scene. Her work became associated with pop art, minimalism and conceptual art. Throughout his career, he has experimented with different media and techniques, such as painting, collage, sculpture, performance and installation.
He has also worked with giant inflatable sculptures, interactive installations and mirrored rooms, in which visitors can see themselves repeated in an infinite space.
The impact of the Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama merger
The first collaboration was in 2012 and was such a success that, ten years later, they met again to revive, evolve and expand that initial exchange.
The main premise of this new creative meeting was to combine the artist’s idea of timelessness with the everydayness of Louis Vuitton pieces. To this end, wallets, handbags and other accessories of the brand were intervened by Yayoi Kusama’s characteristic polka dots.
However, this successful alliance didn’t stop at the intervention of exclusive pieces. On the contrary, it also dressed its most emblematic shops around the world. Giant sculptures, animated robots, buildings covered in coloured polka dots, video games and augmented reality were the tools used to complete the collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama.
Shop interventions
Examples of this type of art installation are:
The Louis Vuitton building on the Champs Elysées, decorated with huge multicoloured polka dots and a monumental sculpture of the artist in giant format clinging to the roof.
The Harrods department store in London, where a humanoid robot, an identical replica of the artist, stares at passers-by and changes expression while she is drawing her polka dots in the window.
In Tokyo, the building is covered with three giant boots, one of which comes to life when opened, magically revealing the artist looking down on the street.
In Milan, Louis Vuitton covered the former Traversi garage in black polka dots on a yellow background with silver metal maxispheres.
The Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama fusion is also active online, with Instagram filters, augmented reality experiences on Snapchat to dress monuments around the world with the famous polka dots and video games.
