Founder of a Kazakh board game startup Ainur Polatova proposed luxury brand Louis Vuitton to collaborate on the design of a handbag shaped like a yurt, QazMonitor reports.
Polatova is a first-year master's student at the Eurasian National University, who created her startup Talapai to promote Kazakh traditional games, like togyzkumalak or bes tas, after seeing the growing popularity of Western-style board games.
“Each game is presented as a wooden box that is fashioned like a bag. It is convenient and easy to carry everywhere. Most importantly, the box is fully functional and you can open it and play it everywhere,” Polatova said.
The project started only three months ago and has already enjoyed great popularity not only in Kazakhstan but also in Turkiye, the U.S., and the Netherlands.
Polatova sent a design proposal to Louis Vuitton after she saw an advertisement for the brand's new store that looked like a traditional nomadic home.
"I told them that I was working on this project – its shape is in the form of a handbag resembling the nomadic homes of our ancestors. Two weeks later, in a letter reply, the company expressed interest in my proposal and invited me to Paris to discuss the idea further," she explained.
According to the designer, she plans to meet with Louis Vuitton representatives sometime in April.
