Georges Vuitton was born on 13 July 1857 in Asnières, outside Paris, the son of Louis Vuitton, the trunk-maker who had founded his house in 1854. He grew up among the workshops his father built at Asnières and joined the business as a young man.
In 1886 he and his father developed the tumbler lock with two spring catches that made Louis Vuitton trunks almost impossible to pick, an invention still associated with the house. Two years later, in 1888, the Damier canvas was introduced to protect the brand against counterfeiting.
On his father's death in 1892 Georges took charge of the house. In 1896, faced with continued copying, he created the Monogram canvas in his father's honour: the interlaced LV initials with quatrefoils and flowers that have become among the most recognisable motifs in luxury. He expanded the business abroad, presenting the house's trunks at international exhibitions, including Chicago in 1893, and selling through stores in London and the United States. In 1894 he published a history of travel, Le Voyage depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours.
In 1914 he opened what was then the world's largest travel-goods store, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. He led the house until his death in 1936, when his son Gaston-Louis Vuitton succeeded him.
