The Napkin Poetry Review Joins Louis Vuitton’s Collection of “Visionaries”

A few months ago, The Napkin Poetry Review received a plain wooden box in the mail from Louis Vuitton and were told we could redefine the shape in any way we chose. To honor the 200th birthday of Mr. Vuitton himself, the trunks were sent worldwide to an assortment of “visionaries” — like poets, scientists, explorers and activists including Gloria Steinem, Drake, and LVMH designers Marc Jacobs and Kim Jones — who could “capture the spirit” of the mysterious founder. Trunks are Mr Vuitton's legacy, the pieces upon which the company was founded in Paris in 1854, and now we sought alongside others to convey them as vessels of the future.

A side of the box featuring poet contributions.

To us, the best way to build on past ideas in order to re-think what’s next was to include future-thinking poetic voices, and we’re so grateful for the 14 fellow poets who contributed their words to this project which will appear starting today, August 4th, in Louis Vuitton Maisons worldwide. Ideas are our jewels — precious vessels and trunks holding our thoughts and imaginations — built from layers of experience, memories, and a wealth of knowledge. The trunk has been covered in short poems written on LV branded “Damier square postcards” by these poets to explore the value of cognitive diversity and elaborate on the meaning of cross-disciplinary and cultural approaches to knowledge.

We’re so excited to announce that Louis Vuitton has pledged to donate over 100,000 Euros on behalf of our project to Slam Out Loud, a for-mission non-profit that uses the transformative power of performance and visual arts to help build creative confidence skills like communication, critical thinking and empathy in children from disadvantaged communities. Eventually Vuitton will release a book chronicling the collaboration, exhibit the physical trunks, and hold a charity auction with Sotheby’s.

Thank you again to the poets who contributed to this project: Anthony Anaxagorou, Gabrielle Bates, Taylor Beidler, Victoria Chang, Jane Draycott, Arch Hades, Zoë Hitzig, Richie Hofmann, Luke Kennard, Brad Leithauser, Shanley McConnell, Maya Popa, Andreea Iulia Scridon, and Marlo Starr.

See https://louis200.com/ for more information and to browse the work of other contributors.