All posts tagged: Bernard Arnault

The wait continues for a revamped Samaritaine store

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The first few times I visited Paris was with my mom. She knows the city very well and would take us to all the tourist places as well as one of her favourites, La Samaritaine department store. The landmark art deco building owned by LVMH sits on Rue de Rivoli and overlooks the river Seine. In 2005 the buildings doors were shut as it no longer met to meet safety standards and after lengthy renovations was meant to reopen in 2013. I pass this building often and always admire it’s beautiful architecture – especially the art deco signage in black and gold, I imagine the generations of women passing through it’s doors since it’s opening in 1869 and I’ve been exciting at the prospect it’s new chapter and story… it’s just taking a mighty long time! The renovation is fully funded by LVMH boss Bernard Arnaud (France’s wealthiest man), his plan is to transform the space into luxury complex comprising of upmarket stores, a luxe hotel, office space as well as duty-free stores appealing to the Chinese consumer …

A glass cloud? A floating sailboat? A smashed perfume bottle?

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Nope, it’s the new Fondation Louis Vuitton recently opened in the Jardin d’acclimatation in the Bois de Bologne in the west of Paris. The merging of two visions between LVMH’s CEO, Bernard Arnault and Frank Gehry the controversial Canadian-American architect-extraordinaire. I headed there on a very grey Parisian day with my youngest strapped into his pram. There is no doubt when you arrive at the entrance that this building is special. It is ginormous in size and the shiny Louis Vuitton Logo stands out like a diamond encrusted brooch on the entrance lapel . From the publicity photos the building seems as if it’s floating like a glass cloud above the park and has in fact been described as a “cloud of glass – magical, ephemeral, all transparent” by Mr Gehry himself in a 2006 interview with the Guardian . But as I stood outside admiring it’s size I didn’t get a sense of anything light – the gallery is imposing, grand, powerful and dominant – which is perhaps a reflection of the luxury conglomerate itself. …