Louis Vuitton Travels to the Dawn of Time for Its Latest High Jewellery Collection

Asking a jeweller what their favourite gemstone is feels akin to asking a mother to name her favourite child. Not to mention that the jeweller in question is renowned designer Francesca Amfitheatrof, the first-ever artistic director of watches and jewellery at Louis Vuitton, who has also dreamed up creations for the likes of Alessi, Asprey, Chanel and Tiffany & Co.
Amfitheatrof makes no qualms, though, about playing favourites with the first pieces in her latest collection of high jewellery. “Emeralds are my personal favourite, and to have a suite of no-oil Colombian emeralds of this quality and size is so phenomenal,” she says. “I wanted to start with a bang.”
The lush and incredibly rare untreated emeralds (they’re often oiled to improve their numerous natural inclusions) are just one of the many ultra-scarce and extraordinary gems sourced by Louis Vuitton’s gemologists and incorporated into the house’s largest-ever collection — all of which is painstakingly handmade in Paris, including at Place Vendôme, a jewellery mecca of sorts where many of the world’s oldest houses got their start and still exist today.