Yves Carcelles is a modest man. Quiet, reserved and sophisticated, he is just about the last person you would expect to find prone to hype or exaggeration. When it comes to discussing his role as Managing Director of Louis Vuitton, however, there is simply no stopping him. For the eyes of this 48 year old Frenchman light up and he rattles off the superlatives with gay abandon.

"Running a company like Louis Vuitton is an absolute pleasure", he explains. "Because we have a range of such refined products that we can afford to put in all the necessary elements to ensure ultimate quality. You can decide that your product has to be perfect – and then seek out that perfection - even if that is going to take you two years in terms of planning and development. At Louis Vuitton we control everything – we buy the skins, we buy from the tannery and we then sell our products in our own stores. We are thus in the most privileged position of being able to avoid any element of compromise whatsoever."

Is this the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth – or the slick patter of a silver-tongued marketing man? Well, the proof of the handbag is in the holding – and certainly Carcelles’ customers have been giving his glowing assessment a resounding thumbs up. To the point that Louis Vuitton was able to report a massive 9 billion franc turnover for 1997. Present in more than 40 countries - from Yokohama to Hawaii, Hong Kong to Munich, in Monaco, Geneva or London – the company employs over 5,000 people (half of them in France) – its products of handbags, cases and travel accessories available in 234 boutiques around the world. And as for the world-wide recession, which has plagued so many economies in recent years, well, when it comes to Vuitton products, you might well be excused for not knowing that there had been a recession at all. For the Paris-based company has reported figures of double-digit growth consistently for the last ten years - to the point where Louis Vuitton has forged itself into the enviable position of being the world’s number one luxury brand.

‘Twas not always thus. When the young Louis Vuitton left his native Jura for Paris way back in the first part of the nineteenth century, he was carrying with him only one piece of luggage: his faith in travel. Without a penny to his name, he could not even afford to pay for the stagecoach, obliging him to travel on foot instead. Working as a stable boy here, a kitchen hand there - Louis aspired above all to be a master woodworker. The timing, though not of his own choosing, could hardly have been more fortuitous - for opulence had come to the French capital too. Gowns slipped over horsehair petticoats became veritable masterpieces requiring metres and metres of silken fabric. When elegant ladies travelled, their costly creations were folded and packed inside poplar chests that were custom-built by specialist craftsmen trunk-makers. It was to this profession that Louis Vuitton committed himself in 1837 when he became an apprentice to one ifs most respected craftsman, Monsieur Maréchal.

Sought after by society ladies and esteemed by the great couturiers, Vuitton soon became a specialist at the pinnace of his art. Establishing his own company and setting up shop in the Rue Neuve des Capucines – just a stone’s throw from the Place Vendôme - he decided to replace the domed lid of the stagecoach trunk with a perfectly flat one that would enable several to be stacked on top of each other. He chose the familiar qualities of poplar wood for the structure and stretched a completely waterproof grey Trianon varnished canvas over it. Inside, he provided numerous storage arrangements not only for dresses, but also for gloves, veils, fans – and all the other accessories that had become essential for elegant dressing. In fact Vuitton had single-handedly invented the modern trunk.

It was not long before Napoleon’s wife, the Empress Eugénie was knocking hard on Louis Vuitton’s door – the first in a long line of grandes dames to prefer Vuitton creations – with many celebrities rapidly following suit. In 1869, Ismail Pasha, khedive of Egypt, ordered several custom-designed trunks to ensure the freshness of the fruit of which he was so fond. A few years later the Grand Duke Nicolas, future Tsar of the Russian Empire, ordered a set of trunks. As the family business grew from strength to strength and was handed down from one generation to the next, it was not long before Hollywood came to be bitten by the Vuitton bug. America’s biggest stars, including Mary Pickford, Marlène Dietrich, Lilian Gish, Ginger Rogers and Cary Grant soon signed up as regular customers. There was a price to pay for such success, however, the company coming to realise that its creations were highly sought after for another purpose – to be copied, the problem of illegal reproductions plaguing its most senior managers ever since. One hundred and sixty three years since Louis Vuitton set off for Paris, it is a problem at the very top of Yves Carcelles’ list of priorities. And here his passion for his products turns into anger.

"We have a very active policy to protect our brand", Carcelles confides, "with around 70 people working for us full time in this field. Every year they will be responsible for organising the seizure of at least 150,000 fake bags. And because this is so important we invest a minimum of 10 million US dollars in terms of budgeting. I am not talking about targeting the little man in the street – it’s the highly organised criminal organisations that we go after. We favour very repressive laws to outlaw counterfeiting. People tell me that they worry about the issue of freedom – but copying, in my view, is no freedom at all. In France we are fairly well organised in terms of legislation – but we are working within the European Commission to ensure that our message gets across to a much wider audience."

A graduate of France’s prestigious Ecole Polytechique, Carcelles is only too well aware that whilst his company has a long and distinguished history, it cannot afford to become locked in the past, and dine out on those golden bygone days. "My job is constantly reinterpret the past – whilst at the same time moving forwards", he says, aware that he has every intention of having the best of both worlds. "So whilst we still do very well with classics such as our Steamer Bag, we also have material which is positively hot and trendy – much of it with our old canvas of over one century ago."

And how important is the Asian market in terms of turnover? Answer - very. For a full 50% of Louis Vuitton goods are sold in Asia, with over two thirds of those transactions taking place in Japan, where brand-consciousness has been elevated by some into a refined art. In fact Carcelles holds the Japanese in extremely high regard – not just because they are good spenders – but because he would rank them as the most educated, informed and discerning customers in the world. "I have heard it time and again", he says, "and not just in relation to luxury brands, that if you can succeed in the Japanese market, then the chances are that you can succeed anywhere in the world."

Many people remain unaware that a ‘special orders’ department still exists today. For a whisky case, a bottle holder for the premiers crus of Bordeaux, or, as for Pierre Boulez, the celebrated contemporary conductor, a suitcase holding compartments especially designed for the tools of his trade. In fact if you have the energy and inspiration – not to mention the cash – even your craziest travel dreams are likely to come true. But is it Carcelles’ policy to make Vuitton products more accessible so that those prestigious initials LV do not remain the exclusive domain of the rich and pampered.

"No, not any price," he says thoughtfully. "We might open a store in a more accessible place – as we have done recently in the Champs Elysées, for example. Or we might enlarge the range. But if by accessibility you mean a decrease in our quality or standards then no, definitely not. A Vuitton bag starts at around 2,000 francs – so our products are not just for the famous or those with money to burn. After all, you can spend an evening in a restaurant and spend that amount. So it’s really up to individuals as to what they want to do with their money. At least with our products you know that you are going to get something which will last, which is more than you can say for the meal!"

And what would the great, late Monsieur Vuitton have made of all this himself? Could he have ever imagined when he set off for Paris that his name would become synonymous with the art of travel or known the world over well over a century after his death? And with the empire continuing to expand almost daily?

"I do feel a kind of link with Louis Vuitton", Carcelles concludes. "I am not saying that I dialogue with him on a daily basis, but sometimes I do pause to think about him. Especially this year when the company went over the 5,000 employee mark for the first time. He invented the first modern trunk, created the first luggage factory, built the monogram – and the entire company has evolved in his spirit. We all respect him here hugely, as you can imagine. And I would like to think that if somehow, miraculously, he could be reincarnated, and he were to pop into my offices here, that he would be really proud of what we have all achieved."

All of which means, presumably, that Yves Carcelles is a happy man, with little or no appetite for the challenges of the future.

"It is my intention to turn this company into a truly global brand", he thunders. "Every year we are opening in another country or two and I want this trend to continue. And I believe that once you have reached a certain level of globalisation, then you make the transition into becoming an institution."

But as Groucho Marx once memorably remarked, ‘whoever would want to live in an institution?’ Louis Vuitton? Certainly not.