Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton married 17-year-old Clemence-Emilie Parriaux in 1854 and raised a family with her.

A very hard working man, he continued working till the very end of his life. He died on 27 February 1892. Upon his death, the company was inherited by his son, Georges Vuitton.

Louis Vuitton was born on 4 August 1821 in Anchay in the Jura region in Eastern France. His father, Xavier Vuitton, was a farmer, and his mother, Corinne Gaillard, was a milliner.

He had a normal childhood until the age of 10 when tragedy struck the family and his mother died. His father soon remarried, and his new wife turned out to be a strict woman.

Louis was a stubborn child who did not get along with his step-mother. He also grew increasingly bored of the simple life in his small village. He was very ambitious even as a child and planned to run away from home.

At the age of 13 he decided to travel to Paris in order to seek his fortune in the big city. And thus he set off, alone and on foot, in the spring of 1835.

He travelled for more than two years, taking up odd jobs on the way in order to fend for himself, and staying wherever he could find shelter. The journey to Paris was not an easy one, but he courageously endured on.

Aged 16 now, he became an apprentice in the workshop of a successful box-maker and packer named Monsieur Marechal. Louis was a creative young man and box-making suited him well.

Box-making was considered to be respectable craft in 19th century Europe, and he proved to be very skilled in this art. Within a few years his boxes became a favorite among the fashionable and elite classes, and he became quite popular.

His fortunes changed for the better in 1853 when he was appointed as the personal trunk-maker to Empress Eugénie de Montijo, wife of Napoleon III. He was assigned the responsibility of aesthetically packaging her clothes for transportation between the Tuileres Palace, the Château de Saint-Cloud and various seaside resorts.

He excelled in this position and the royal family was very happy with his services. This position also enabled him to attract elite and royal clientele.

After making a name for himself as a premier box-maker who worked for the royalty, he decided to open his own business. Thus he left Marechal's shop and opened his own box-making and packing workshop in Paris in 1854. The sign outside the shop read: "Securely packs the most fragile objects. Specializing in packing fashions."

He won a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle, an international exposition organized by Napoleon in 1867.

In 1889, he was honored with a gold medal and the grand prize at the Exposition Universelle.