Design Intelligence  ·  Luxury Maisons
Every luxury Maison
has a design system.
We decoded them.

Premium intelligence resources decoding the colour codes, motif architecture, material language, and construction logic of the world's leading luxury Maisons — for designers and creative professionals working inside these worlds.

The reference you reach for before the brief begins.

Browse the catalogue
What you'll find

Colour code references across 20 Maisons. Motif and icon libraries. Brand DNA analyses of 40+ Maisons across fashion and jewellery. Pitch intelligence for designers approaching the Maisons. Art historical period codes. Curated multi-Maison edits.

Start with a free sample →
40+
Maisons decoded
across fashion & jewellery
9
Sections per Brand
DNA guide
20
Maisons per
compilation reference
Colour · Motif
Material · Construction
Four design systems
decoded per Maison
Fashion
& Jewellery
Covering both
luxury verticals
The Catalogue
Compilation References
Multi-Maison compiled references covering the most operationally critical design codes — colour, motif, construction, and technique — across the full spectrum of luxury fashion and jewellery.
F1 — Free Free Download
Brand DNA Mini-Sample:
One Maison, Complete
One brand. Sections 1 and 9: Foundation & Heritage and Design Tests. A complete picture of the Brand DNA method — what it covers, how deep it goes, and how designers use it. Full catalogue included.
Free
Get the guide →
S1 — Compilation Available
The Luxury Colour Codes:
20 Maisons Decoded
One spread per Maison: named palette, hex codes, Pantone references, metal and gemstone conventions, seasonal logic, and cross-category colour rules. Covers 20 fashion and jewellery Maisons. Colour swatches included.
£19
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S2 — Compilation Coming Soon
The Luxury Motifs & Icons:
20 Maisons Decoded
One spread per Maison: iconic motifs, what they signal, cross-category deployment rules, construction notes. Original geometric diagram illustrations included.
£19
C1 — Specialist Coming Soon
How to Pitch a Luxury Maison:
The Designer's Insider Guide
What design studios screen for, how to position a portfolio for a specific Maison, how to approach cold. House-by-house briefing for the top 10 Maisons across fashion and jewellery. Editable cover letter and pitch framework templates.
£59
C2 — Specialist Coming Soon
Art Deco Jewellery Design Codes:
The Complete Reference
Full period decode: geometry, platinum and calibré-cut conventions, onyx and diamond contrast, mystery setting origins, period Maison interpretations, motif vocabulary, and setting techniques. ~30 pages.
£49
P1 — Premium Coming Soon
Brand DNA Visual Guides:
Full Design System with References
The full 9-section Brand DNA analysis with designed visual references: colour swatch grids, material specifications, motif diagrams, texture references, and historical imagery. Starting with Cartier, Chanel, Hermès, Van Cleef & Arpels, Louis Vuitton.
£129
S3 — Brand DNA Series
40+ Maisons.
One complete design system each.

The Brand DNA Series decodes one Maison per guide — nine sections covering foundation and heritage, core philosophy, colour, material, motif, hardware, construction logic, cross-category codes, and a final design test. The standard working reference for anyone operating inside a Maison's world.

Cartier
Jewellery Maison
Decode the codes behind La Panthère, Trinity, Love, and Juste un Clou — the colour hierarchy, metal conventions, and motif grammar that make Cartier unmistakable across every category.
£39PDF →
Hermès
Fashion Maison
Decode Hermès's colour authority — from Vert Criquet to Bleu Saphir — its material hierarchy, and the design logic that makes a piece unmistakable without a visible logo.
£39PDF →
Chanel
Fashion Maison
The camellia, the quilted grid, the precise black-and-cream palette — widely referenced, widely misread. This guide decodes the exact design vocabulary behind Chanel's enduring authority.
£39PDF →
Louis Vuitton
Fashion Maison
The monogram is only the beginning. Decode the full design architecture behind one of the most commercially complex Maisons — from the Damier grid to the hardware grammar and high jewellery codes.
£39PDF →
Dior
Fashion Maison
The New Look established the codes; every Creative Director since has reinterpreted them. Decode the Bar jacket proportions, Cannage, Toile de Jouy, and the material logic at the core of the house.
£39PDF →
Van Cleef
& Arpels
Jewellery Maison
The Maison of the Alhambra, Mystery Setting, and Poudreuse. Decode Van Cleef's colour world, the construction philosophy behind invisible settings, and the fairy-tale motif language spanning ballet to high jewellery.
£39PDF →
Tiffany & Co.
Jewellery Maison
Blue Box included. Decode the six-prong setting that changed fine jewellery, the T and Atlas design codes, and the colour and material conventions that give Tiffany its singular global recognition.
£39PDF →
Boucheron
Jewellery Maison
The original Place Vendôme Maison. Decode the Serpent Bohème arc, the Quatre band geometry, and the colour and material logic that distinguishes Boucheron from its Vendôme neighbours.
£39PDF →
40+
Maisons available
Fashion & Jewellery
View the full catalogue →

Each guide: 9 sections  ·  Foundation & Heritage  ·  Core Philosophy  ·  Colour DNA  ·  Material Language  ·  Iconic Motifs  ·  Hardware & Construction  ·  Cross-Category Design Codes  ·  Category Overviews  ·  Design Tests

Curated Collections — Coming Soon
Maison Edits
Holding multiple Maisons in parallel reveals cross-house patterns, shared heritage, and competitive distinctions that no single guide can show alone. Each Edit is curated by conglomerate, region, or design affinity — chosen because the Maisons in question inform each other.
The Richemont Edit
Cartier · Van Cleef & Arpels · Piaget
£99
The LVMH Edit
Louis Vuitton · Dior · Bulgari
£99
The Place Vendôme Edit
Cartier · Van Cleef & Arpels · Boucheron · Chaumet
£129
The Colour Masters
Hermès · Cartier · Van Cleef & Arpels
£79
Join the list to be notified when Edits launch → Get the free sample
About The Prior
Design intelligence for those working at the forefront of luxury.
The Prior is a luxury design intelligence studio. Our publications are produced by a team of researchers and analysts with careers built across fashion and jewellery's most demanding houses.

Trend forecasters tell you what will be popular. Heritage educators teach technique and history. Nobody decodes a single Maison's complete design system into a working operational reference — until now.

The Prior produces original analytical resources that decode the design codes, colour logic, material conventions, motif architecture, hardware grammar, and cross-category rules of the world's leading luxury Maisons. Observed, decoded, and distilled into working design references.

For designers approaching a Maison brief, creative directors and brand professionals conducting competitive landscape research across the luxury segment, and design educators seeking authoritative primary analytical frameworks.

Research
Primary source analysis of collections, archival material, and design evolution across decades of output — not seasons.
Analysis
Design codes decoded into their component logic — colour, motif, material, construction, and cross-category rules.
Reference
Structured for immediate studio application. Every section built to be opened before a brief, not after.
Contact
Get in touch.

For licensing enquiries, design school partnerships, bespoke research requests, or any other question about The Prior's publications — send a message and we'll respond within two working days.

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