Louis Vuitton keen to highlight the art of bespoke

"It is a great day for Asnières, which holds a very special place in my heart," says Patrick Louis Vuitton in the garden of his family home in Asnières-sur-Seine on the outskirts of Paris.

The great-great-grandson of Louis Vuitton has good reason to celebrate. The luxury brand has opened an exhibition space, La Galerie, that highlights not only the house but also its custom pieces, which are produced by a special department led by Vuitton himself.

After opening the gargantuan Frank Gehry-designed Louis Vuitton Foundation art museum in Paris last year, the LVMH group moved on to opening La Galerie, around the corner from the workshops where the made-to-order trunks and bags are still produced.

The space was inaugurated on July 5 with an exhibition set up by Judith Clark, a curator and professor of fashion and museology at London College of Fashion.

Clark's aim was to reveal the intimate aspects of Louis Vuitton's history, while focusing on its ties with the ateliers in Asnières. She created an exhibition over two floors. Elements, including documents and collection pieces from the Louis Vuitton archive, are grouped according to themes.

Old client records, sales registers, posters and original photographs are kept alongside trunks, suitcases, bags and ready-to-wear collections - some of them the personal possessions of royals and maharajas, Hollywood stars and French actresses, as well as anonymous bespoke clients who wanted bags and trunks "that are always complicated to make and created to carry the most beautiful of things", as Vuitton puts it.