Indulging in a chocolate tasting at the Louis Vuitton Marina Bay Sands boutique feels surreal. Established in 1854, Louis Vuitton has consistently introduced innovative designs. The brand remains dedicated to the vision of its founder, Louis Vuitton, who revolutionised travel with elegant and highly functional luggage, bags and accessories.
Over the years, audacity has been the driving force behind the brand’s evolution while honouring its legacy. Louis Vuitton has cultivated partnerships with architects, artists and designers, expanding its offerings to include ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, timepieces, jewellery and fragrances.
Now, you can add confections to that list. Louis Vuitton has teamed up with Maxime Frédéric, the renowned pastry chef of Cheval Blanc Paris, to create handcrafted chocolates in the heart of Paris, combining top-notch ingredients and refined expertise.
At Louis Vuitton in Marina Bay Sands Singapore, Le Chocolat Maxime Frédéric presents a selection of chocolates inspired by the essence of Louis Vuitton, elegantly packaged in the Maison’s emblematic boxes
Chocolate odyssey
In early 2022, Maxime Frédéric started collaborating with Louis Vuitton by opening a Louis Vuitton café and the brand’s first chocolate boutique in Paris. This culinary adventure extended to Courchevel with the debut of Le Chocolat Maxime Frédéric at the Louis Vuitton pop-up store for the winter season.
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The Singapore chocolate shop displays a stunning array of chocolate creations arranged elegantly on a curved counter made of natural oak. Surrounding it are stacked trunks with alcoves to showcase the boxed chocolate creations, mirroring the presentation of Maison’s coveted fashion items.
Hailing from Normandy and rooted in his family’s dairy farming heritage, Frédéric believes in sourcing raw materials, guided by the wisdom of Les secrets de nos vergers (the secrets of our orchards). At his Normandy farm, he nurtures diverse breeds of chickens, each yielding eggs with unique hues and tends to a special variety of hazelnuts renowned for their size and rich flavour profile.
He selects premium ingredients, like milk sourced from friends’ dairy farm in Normandy and chocolates from small-scale cocoa farmers in Vietnam, Peru, Madagascar, the Dominican Republic and São Tome for their unique aromas.
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Like the art of trunk making, crafting these chocolates requires a specialised savoir-faire and a dedication to meticulous hand craftsmanship. During a visit to Asnières, the historic home of Louis Vuitton and the modern-day trunk-making atelier, Frédéric had the privilege of meeting with the artisans responsible for handcrafting the distinctive Louis Vuitton trunks.
Reflecting on the importance of craftsmanship, he says: “We started to see a lot of similarities between our work in patisseries and the work of the artisans there, whether it’s a woodworker or a locksmith for the trunks. It’s about handcrafted workmanship and that’s completely in line with our work as artisan pastry chefs, bakers and chocolatiers.”
That said, Frédéric graciously carves out time from his bustling chocolate-making routine to offer insightful responses to our queries.
How did the collaboration with Louis Vuitton to create Chocolat Maxime Frédéric begin?
It started just about two years ago by simply meeting with the teams of this magnificent Maison. More inspiration came from visiting the Asnières workshop and meeting the highly skilled people working for this company. This greatly impacted me and inspired me to make chocolate with the Maison.
How do you approach presenting chocolates as works of art, similar to the Vivienne Trunk? What factors do you consider when displaying them?
First and foremost, I can say that I’ve always made chocolate sculptures. I’ve always been drawn to building things with chocolate. That comes from my family history on my father’s side because everyone’s a mechanic there. I have a farmer line and a mechanic line in my family. I have always done mechanical things with my father and grandfather and enjoy building things with chocolate. The Vivienne Trunk came out of that interest; it’s the history of Louis Vuitton and all these little mechanisms to make it turn. In any case, I designed it that way. The idea is to showcase all the savoir-faire and craftsmanship that went into this piece. It’s not just a chocolate, Vivienne; it’s much more than that; there’s an entire little mechanism inside. So it’s really about spotlighting the breadth and depth of our savoir-faire.
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Maxime Frédéric’s centrepiece creation, Vivienne on Malle, draws inspiration from the Vivienne music box. With a simple twist of a chocolate key, Vivienne gracefully pirouettes atop a trunk
As a chocolate artisan, how do you balance pursuing creativity and innovation with preserving the brand’s heritage and traditions?
It’s a real challenge requiring adapting and knowing the Maison perfectly. And for that, I’m lucky to be part of a team. And that’s the most beautiful thing. It’s all that binds us and sharing this heritage allows me afterwards to imagine things while keeping that. And then, I’m very attached to that. I’m very attached to my roots. You understand now with time, but I’m very attached to that.
What inspired you to become a chocolate maker and how did you start the business?
I started very young, at 14, just out of middle school. I was one of the youngest in my class and I’d always wanted to be a baker, pastry chef and, of course, chocolate maker to have a well-rounded career. I simply started at school. And then, I enjoyed working with chocolate for all the Easter holidays. When we started collaborating with Louis Vuitton, the idea was proposed this way: It would be great to offer chocolates and coffee so that everyone could take a little piece of this adventure home with them.
What sets your chocolate creations apart from others in the industry?
What sets them apart? Two things, really. First, sensitivity is fundamental. This takes two forms: respect for traditions, but what drives me is honouring this stance and respecting your elders, those who have been doing this long before me. I need to respect these elders and the history of the people who built things and thanks to whom we’re lucky enough to be here today. In that sense, this also entails respect for raw materials since respecting people involves respecting nature and the people who grow things. The entire agricultural industry.
Obviously, I’m talking about chocolate, so that means talking about cocoa, but chocolate also means vanilla. There’s a culture of travel in the Maison, which is also expressed through making chocolate, which is a strong part of the Maison’s DNA. But the cocoa and vanilla producers... I was with our vanilla producer from Tahiti just yesterday afternoon. He came to France’s Salon de l’Agriculture and stopped by to see us. But all that is involved in making chocolate, too — the ganaches, the pralines, all the dried fruit and nuts.
So, what sets our creations apart? This singularity with people and nature, where there is a deep respect for heritage and what’s happening right now, works mindfully. This isn’t opportunism in any way. And so everything that’s in our chocolate, everything that’s in this chocolate-making, has meaning.
How do you source your ingredients and what factors do you consider when selecting them?
Our priority lies in nurturing lasting relationships through personal interactions that foster trust. We go beyond transactional exchanges to deeply understand and respect the people, their histories and the craftsmanship behind each product. Every ingredient — from hazelnuts to vanilla — has a rich story we aim to share with our clients, inviting them to journey through our history and heritage. From chocolate bars with international flavours to locally sourced milk for our coffee, we celebrate the unique expertise behind every item.
Our mission extends to promoting exceptional initiatives and creating meaningful experiences because, at Louis Vuitton, we believe in the value of human connections and the memories they create. This approach defines who we are: a brand committed to excellence with care at its heart.
Among the chocolate offerings, the Damier-shaped Chocolate Tablets, Monogram Flower, Chocolate Bar and Filled Trunk Tablets are also inspired by Louis Vuitton’s signature motifs
Are you experimenting with any unique flavour or ingredient combinations?
We are currently developing a line of fruit-infused chocolates, highlighting the exceptional work of our partnering small-scale farmers. Our latest creation is pistachio and raspberry chocolate featuring pistachios from Francesco in Sicily and raspberries from Philippe near Bordeaux.
Our goal is to create a unique collection of fruity chocolates, which is innovative and challenging due to the technical complexities of combining chocolate with fruit flavours. We aim to honour these dedicated farmers by showcasing their produce in our confections, something that’s more common in pastry but rare and difficult in chocolate-making.
What advice would you offer aspiring artisans looking to enter the industry?
You must put love into your work; that’s the main ingredient. Without it, it’s bland. But love in the broader sense. You can’t just be a good chocolate maker. Today, the only reason I’m here — and lucky to be here — is because I have people around me who believe in me and give me everything they have, all their expertise so that I can grow.
I’m 34 — that’s old but not very old — but today, I have this thirst to learn and keep growing. But more than anything, I have this responsibility to help the people around me grow. If I had any advice, it would be to put love into what you do and find a mentor or a team that can give you everything you need to thrive because you can’t do it alone. You can be self-taught; it works, but things will inevitably be missing.
