Louis Vuitton travel chest of the late 19th century

Louis Vuitton suitcases and chests, created for researchers, archaeologists and adventurers (in the best sense of the word), hold many vivid memories. Open an old chest and a lot of forgotten images, scents and stories will slip out.

Since its foundation in the 19th century, Louis Vuitton has produced hundreds of thousands of handmade chests. There is a story associated with each of them. These products are scattered all over the world. Some lie in attics, others are on display in museums, and others are still traveling the world.

Travel chests are something special, they are carefully stored or lost forever.

Each chest tells us its own story: "the story of the one who ordered it, the one who owned it, the story of the era in which it was made; a wide–open chest is no longer a chest, it is an album with memories" (Patrick-Louis Vuitton).

At the beginning of the 20th century, travelers transported things in chests and flat suitcases, which, unfortunately, very often attracted the attention of robbers. Louis Vuitton, a master chest manufacturer, decided to help his customers securely protect the contents of their luggage.

In 1886, together with his son Georges, he invented a unique lock with two springs, which was patented after several years of improvements and improvements. This revolutionary system proved so effective that Georges published a newspaper challenge to the famous American illusionist Harry Houdini, suggesting that the latter try to free himself from a locked Vuitton suitcase. Houdini never accepted the challenge, however, the reliability of the lock has been in no doubt since then, and it has been successfully used to this day.