Since its inception in 2012, Louis Vuitton’s Objets Nomades has circumnavigated the globe, popping up everywhere from Frieze Los Angeles to the Milan Furniture Fair to Design Miami. Like the collections of the French fashion and luxury goods house, the furniture and homewares collection is inspired by the wonders of travel, with each item carefully created by the crème de la crème of international designers, including the Brazilian Campana Brothers, British Council Talented Award winners Raw Edges, and Hong Kong design darling André Fu. For its first Objets Nomades show of 2021, and third outing in Hong Kong, the French powerhouse turned to local designer Nelson Chow of NC Design & Architecture to transform the opulent rooms at the Pedder Building in Central into Memento, a multisensory Hong Kong-style seaside mansion. Arranged across two floors of the Beaux-Arts building, and interspersed with bold colour and an extravagance of greenery, Chow has separated the collection of 56 travel- and home-related pieces across 10 rooms. “I was inspired by Hong Kong’s old mansions. I studied places like Haw Par Mansion on Tai Hang Road and King Yin Lei on Stubbs Road and transported their beams, curved walls and cross motifs to the interior,” he says. “We also looked at the way these houses were divided into different compartments.” In a nod to Hong Kong’s maritime history, the journey begins at The Pier, a navy blue haven strung with this year’s key piece, Lanterns by Zanellato/Bortotto. A new addition to the 2021 collection, the interwoven leather lanterns echo the shape of beehives, cast a honeyed glow and tie in with the theme of portability with their handbag-like carrying straps. The only other new inclusion for this year’s Objets Nomades is the LV Bike. The first bicycle ever produced by Louis Vuitton, it is making its worldwide debut. Built in collaboration with artisanal Paris-based bicycle maker Maison Tamboite Paris, the two-wheeler features enamelled metal frames, chrome steel, built-in trackers and hand-stitched saddles. Among the designs is a limited-edition Louis Vuitton x Urs Fischer collaboration, restricted to just 20 pieces worldwide. “For The Living Room we wanted it to feel a little bit like a stage set, like you’re in a room within a bigger room,” says Chow of the second space that visitors enter. Drenched in Star Ferry green, with white curtains billowing in the background, it features Marcel Wanders’ striking red Diamond sofa and chairs, each braced on a web of leather straps, at its centre. Elsewhere, there is a mesmerising photograph of actress Maggie Cheung Man-yuk shot by Hong Kong photographer and filmmaker Wing Shya. Photographs from his private archive pepper the entire installation. From here, visitors travel around corners and through thick curtains to the creamy Meditation Lounge, the triangular Dining Salon (which spotlights a reinterpretation of the Anemona table by Atelier Biagetti) and the pastel-hued Dressing Room, before venturing downstairs. It’s here, in the Garden space, that Chow’s clever use of scent and sound is at its most vibrant. Three leather Cocoon chairs by the Campana Brothers – oval latticework swing seats wrapped in candy-coloured calfskin – hang behind a Barney-purple frame, amid a jungle of greenery, while a birdsong soundtrack plays and the aroma of black tea, fresh cut grass and cedar fills the air. In the spirit of Louis Vuitton it is thoroughly transporting. “In the garden, we play with the sense of smell. In the study, we play with the sunlight, and the Gate is about romance,” Chow says. The final room in the series is a bow-shaped space with stepped walls, a peach paint job and a circular faux window with a view of the South China Sea at sunset. Reminiscent of the bow of an elegant old cruise liner, this is where Chow has, fittingly, chosen to close the show by highlighting the latest version of Fu’s Ribbon Dance chair. An evocation of the flowing forms seen in traditional Asian ribbon dances, the two-person conversation seat was previously only available with a natural wood arm and cream cushions. Now it can be custom made with arms wrapped in black Louis Vuitton leather and jewel-like teal cushions. “I wanted to bring out the story about the pieces, or at least trigger the audience’s curiosity to understand each piece more,” says Chow. And despite the travel-inspired tour being delayed for more than year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, this event is the biggest Objets Nomades Hong Kong has seen – and perhaps also the most likely to inspire wanderlust. Objets Nomades ends on April 8. Visit hk.louisvuitton.com for information