Louis Vuitton Fornasetti Watercolor Colored Pencils: A $1,220 Pencil Set Under the Microscope

Introduction

In 2019, Louis Vuitton released its first-ever set of colored pencils: a 40-count kit that retailed for a staggering $1,000. The verdict back then was rough. The pencils were waxy, packed with filler, and generally not up to the standard a four-figure price implies. Many assumed it was a one-time limited edition. It was not.

The 2021 winter-fall collection brought a follow-up, this time in collaboration with the Italian luxury design house Fornasetti. The 40-count was trimmed to 12 pencils, the price stayed close to $990, and then a $220 premium was added for the collaboration, bringing the total to $1,220 for 12 watercolor pencils in a leather pouch. That works out to roughly $100 per pencil.

This article breaks down the packaging, build quality, formula, and value of that set, and also looks at the $900 Gucci 40-count set that shares a suspiciously familiar bloodline.

Packaging: Creative Beyond Reason

The packaging tag identifies the set as a Louis Vuitton collaboration with Fornasetti, an Italian brand known for decorative plates around $330, candles around $210, and full teacup sets around $1,300. The Fornasetti collaboration is visible all over the design, which is likely part of why this set costs more than the original release.

And here is the surprise: the packaging is genuinely excellent. The leather case is shaped like the traditional Louis Vuitton flower, an iconic symbol across the brand’s collections, and the envelope-style design makes it arguably the most creative pencil packaging available, especially compared to the rolled canvas pouch of the original 40-count set. As packaging alone, it earns a solid 10 out of 10. Everything after this point, however, heads downhill.

Barrel Build Quality: A Familiar Story

On first inspection, the barrels are cute: the small logo mark and a gold tip at the end, at least more than the completely plain Gucci pencils offer. But judged against a $1,200 price point, the details falter quickly.

The barrel width is a standard size you would find on basic budget pencils. Higher-end colored pencils typically use a slightly thicker barrel so the extra wood protects the core and reduces cracking if the pencil is dropped. These skip that. Worse, the barrels are made from compressed wood, essentially leftover bleached wood compressed into new blanks, rather than the single-piece wood that premium art supply makers use for stability.

Weight tells the same story. A Faber-Castell Polychromos pencil weighs exactly 6 grams; one of these weighs exactly 5 grams. It is a small difference, but small details are usually what make something feel special. Here, the cheapest colored pencil on a budget store shelf would feel the same in hand. Barrel score: 2 out of 10.

Color Selection and Formula

There is a hidden twist. After unboxing, a paintbrush symbol appears on the barrel, meaning these are not colored pencils at all. They are watercolor pencils, compressed watercolor in pencil form, which changes the formula, the break-down behavior, the paper choice, and the lightfastness expectations entirely.

The 12-color selection itself is reasonable for such a small set, but it is a steep cut from the 40 colors of the previous $1,000 set, which even included a gold pencil. The math is brutal: the original pencils cost about $20 each, while these cost about $100 each.

Performance is the real problem. The cores are full of filler, feel scratchy, and refuse to layer on top of each other. A 20-color budget set from a mass-market retailer outperforms them completely; the difference in formula quality is night and day. Judged as watercolor pencils, they land at a mid-tier 5 out of 10.

How the Gucci Set Compares

Four months before this set arrived, the $900 Gucci 40-count pencils were tested, and the observation then was that they appeared to be the exact same color selection as the original Louis Vuitton set. Now that both brands’ pencils are side by side, the similarities go far deeper.

The barrels are practically identical: both made of compressed wood, both octagonal, with the same barrel colors and even the same sharpening pattern. Every single color in the Fornasetti collaboration color-matches the Gucci set by barrel alone, and testing the matched colors side by side confirms the cores are the exact same colors inside. Louis Vuitton and Gucci have entirely different parent companies, which strongly suggests both brands are sourcing their pencils from the same factory.

Sourcing is the likely explanation: a brand either customizes a factory’s existing product at greater cost and time, or buys the already-made mass-produced item and applies its logo. The cheap version of this story is even starker. On a bulk wholesale marketplace, a nearly identical 40-color watercolor set, same palette including the one silver and one gold pencil, same faux leather canvas case, sells for about $6.50 per unit in bulk.

Buying Advice

The honest question is why Louis Vuitton bothered putting pencils inside the packaging at all. The brand sells backpacks, notebooks, and pencil cases that sell brilliantly while empty, and the case here is the only truly high-quality element. A low-quality item inside a high-quality one arguably drags the whole package down rather than elevating it.

If you want the Fornasetti-designed case as a collector’s object, the packaging genuinely earns its praise. If you want pencils to draw with, this is not the set. The overall verdict for the pencils themselves: 0 out of 10, not worth the money.

Conclusion

The Louis Vuitton x Fornasetti watercolor pencil set is one of the most beautiful pencil packages ever made wrapped around one of the most disappointing pencil formulas at any price, let alone $1,220. With the $900 Gucci 40-count set sharing near-identical barrels, colors, and performance, and near-matching bulk alternatives available for a few dollars, these sets are best understood as fashion objects, not art tools. Buy the pouch if you love the design; skip the pencils if you plan to use them.