At Wallpaper*, we champion the design-led, forward-thinking and impeccably executed. We’re always on the lookout for compelling creations – from objects and accessories to jewellery, fashion and tech – and aim to bring you pieces that subvert, surprise and delight.

In The Design Drop, we highlight the most striking objects to land that month. Think of it as a wish list for the design-discerning: browse, admire – and, if tempted, acquire.

Read on to discover April's standout pieces from our favourite brands and studios.

German luggage maker Rimowa isn’t afraid of embracing colour, even if its beloved ridged aluminium shell remains most ubiquitous in silver and black on any airport carousel. Joining glossy shades such as ‘Terracotta red’, ‘Ballerina pink’ and green, the Essential range is now rendered in orange and magenta, arriving just in time for a season of bright getaways.

Rimowa in vivid colour

Borrowing from the visual language of Pop-era optimism, the hues channel individuality and playful sophistication: orange delivers an energetic, high-impact brightness, while magenta offers a deeper, fuchsia-toned intensity. Leading the colour-saturated campaign is Spanish actress and Almodóvar muse Rossy de Palma.

The new shades will be available across multiple sizes of Rimowa’s Essential suitcase, from the compact Cabin to the expansive Trunk Plus. Constructed from premium polycarbonate, the Essential range maintains the brand’s technical focus, incorporating features such as a stage-free telescopic handle, Multiwheel system, TSA-approved locks, and a dual-compartment interior with Flex Divider compression. Each suitcase is backed by a lifetime guarantee.

Elsewhere, the orange hue carries into the Groove Cross-Body Bag Small, produced in smooth Italian calf leather, while a suite of accessories – packing cubes and a trifold toiletry pouch – extends the palette into a complete travel system.

Available from 23 April 2026, prices start at £680 for the Cabin, rising to £1,080 for the Trunk Plus, with leather goods and accessories completing the offer.

rimowa.com

Rimowa and Swiss furniture maker Lehni have announced a limited-edition collaboration – Rimowa Lehni – launching during Salone del Mobile 2026 – with two pieces of furniture designed specifically to store Rimowa cabin-sized suitcases at home.

These are the Rimowa Lehni Bench, an open-shelving unit that holds up to two suitcases side by side, and the Rimowa Lehni Drawer, a sculptural stacked-storage frame with a closed drawer for smaller objects. Both pieces, finished by hand at Lehni's factory in Zurich, are crafted in anodised aluminium in black or silver, and each shelf is lined with a scratch-resistant felt mat.

The partnership brings together two established names in aluminium craftsmanship: Rimowa has been creating its German-engineered luggage for over a century, while Lehni has been producing aluminium furniture in Switzerland since 1922. Notably, this marks the first time the furniture brand has adapted its modular system to create a purpose-built storage solution for suitcases.

Rimowa chief marketing officer Mathieu Plenier described the project as one that fuses both brands' heritages: ‘Together with Lehni we crafted made-to-measure pieces that perfectly marry our Swiss and German design backgrounds while celebrating our shared dedication to aluminium craftsmanship. This collaboration transforms the way our suitcases live at home, creating innovative storage solutions that are both purposeful and beautifully engineered.’

Lehni owners and directors Benedetta Agostini and Antonio Monaci called the result ‘technology and beauty applied to aluminium’, adding that it represents ‘a design product made entirely in Switzerland to the highest aesthetic and quality standards – characteristics that set both brands apart in the market’.

The collection will be presented at Milan Design Week at the Rimowa Lehni Visitor Centre on Via Achille Maiocchi 10, open 21-24 April 2026, alongside a curated selection of titles chosen by Swiss publisher Innen Publishing and a postcard-mailing station where visitors can send handwritten notes from Milan. A special window installation by local practice Studioutte will also feature at Rimowa's newly renovated Milan flagship.

The Rimowa Lehni Bench and Rimowa Lehni Drawer are each priced at €3,200 and will be available from 21 April on Rimowa.com and in select flagship stores globally

Spring has arrived – and with it, that irresistible urge to get away (if it ever really left). It’s time to dust off your passport, start planning, and say yes to new adventures. Whether you’re booking a spontaneous weekend escape or mapping out something further afield, a little smart prep goes a long way.

From versatile luggage and bags perfect for quick getaways to must-have tech, beauty essentials, and clever hacks to outsmart travel’s usual health pitfalls, we’ve rounded up everything you need. The goal? To help you pack smarter, stay comfortable, look fresh, and – most importantly – keep things stress-free wherever you’re headed.

The Wallpaper* guide to spring travel essentials

We are a peripatetic generation: restlessly curious and forever plotting the next trip. It’s a trait that proves surprisingly useful when it comes to gifting. Travel-minded presents rarely miss the mark; they signal care in its most pragmatic form, helping to plan, elevate or ease someone’s journey.

Our edit strikes a balance between function, comfort and design intelligence. True to Wallpaper*’s sensibility, it gathers the sharpest designs in tech and lifestyle. The categories may be familiar, but each pick brings a fresh, forward twist on the pieces we reach for time and again.

For more design-driven gifting ideas and aesthetically attuned stocking fillers, explore our other seasonal gift guides.

The Wallpaper* travel gift guide 2025

Analogue in-flight entertainment

Five-star treatment

A chic name-drop

Escape artist

Pleat elite

An order keeper

Mile-high comforter

Free roaming

Lights out

A mood mixer

A reset wash

A flight-mode facial

A pocketable friend

A power move

Do not disturb

The holiday season is fast approaching, and when it comes to gift-giving, people usually fall into one of two camps: those who delight in the hunt for the perfect present, and the rest of us. Buying for a design lover – notoriously tricky, given their knack for finding the most elegant solution to everything – can, in fact, be surprisingly rewarding.

Here, we present Wallpaper’s gift guide for the design-minded individual: a considered edit of beautiful objects that marry form and function with effortless ease. Skip the chaos of tinsel-clad shop floors and instead scroll serenely through our curation, a selection guaranteed to charm even the most discerning (or humbug) recipient.

After a little something? Browse our perfect stocking fillers.

The Wallpaper* gift guide for design lovers

Rimowa debut the Cocktail Case, their latest special edition in collaboration with storied silver manufacturers Robbe & Berking.

By now, the German luggage manufacturer has got us used to the many interpretations of its cases, with designs conceived for transporting beauty essentials, champagne and even a trumpet and violin. But the grooved aluminium surfaces have also taken a life on their own, most recently cladding an espresso maker by La Marzocco.

The latest interpretation of the popular suitcases sees Rimowa and Robbe & Berking collaborating on a piece that combines German engineering and craftsmanship with a whole lot of fun. The case is made by Rimowa in its German factory in the brand's traditional aluminium, while the silver-plated cocktail accessories, designed with a nod to the grooves of the case, are crafted by Robbe & Berking.

The bar kit includes a Cobbler Shaker whose design has been conceived to be compact and easily transportable, two tumblers and a jigger as well as two coasters, two silver straws, and a bar spoon

The Case itself features all the elements that usually define Rimowa's Classic Collection, from the leather handles to the TSA-approved locks. In addition, this piece is also characterised by a bespoke interior that features slots for each element of the bar accessory kit to ensure the kit arrives smoothly for

The Rimowa x Robbe & Berking Cocktail Case, €4750, is available from 30 October 2025 from rimowa stores worldwide and rimowa.com

It was in 1950 that Rimowa introduced the distinctive grooves to its aluminium suitcases; in the decades which have followed it has become the German luggage-maker’s aesthetic signature, an emblem of industrial design and a way of identifying a Rimowa case without a need for splashy branding or monograms (colourful luggage options exist for those keener to stand out).

Now, these signature ridges feature on a new line of handbags from the brand, seeing the grooved exterior of a Rimowa case reimagined as imprints on leather. Retaining the cuboid proportions of the original luggage, the new bags provide a trick of the eye – on first sight they appear to be hard-shelled, but to the touch they are actually soft and supple, made to transform to the contours of the body.

Rimowa’s industrial ridged design is softened in new leather collection

In the aptly titled ‘Groove’ collection, the leather debossing technique is used across a series of bag shapes, each one made in Italy and designed for travel. There is a roomy shopping bag (perhaps our first choice for an on-board bag, designed to sit atop the Rimowa cabin-sized suitcase), a slouchier ‘Hobo’ bag, a cross-body bag and the more compact cross-body bag ‘small’, made for passports, wallets and the like. Colours, meanwhile, are classic Rimowa shades of black and silver – while the smaller cross-body comes in a wider array of hues, including pink, burgundy and green.

‘We’re proud to usher in a new era for Rimowa as we boldly step into an exciting new category,’ says Hugues Bonnet-Masimbert, Rimowa’s CEO of the new launch, which marks an important expansion for the brand. ‘The Groove Collection introduces a new pattern inspired by our iconic design codes – developed in Germany, crafted in Italy, and deeply rooted in the [brand’s] heritage and creative vision.’

The Rimowa Groove collection is available to shop now in store and at rimowa.com

Originally making its debut in Germany in 1896, gay periodical Der Eigene – roughly translated as ‘The Own’ or ‘Self-Possessed’, but ultimately encapsulating a feeling of acceptance – made a long-lasting impact on queer history. Publisher and activist Adolf Brand’s cultural focus on literature, art, politics and photography spearheaded a movement that championed freedom and resisted censorship, something he achieved until Hitler rose to power in the 1930s.

In 2022, Rimowa revived the magazine with editor-in-chief Luis Venegas, featuring conversations and photo essays shining a light on the lives of the LGBTQIA+ community. Now, to mark its limited fourth edition, available from bookstores including London’s Climax Books, photographer Collier Schorr has taken the helm, working with casting director Nicola Kast in selecting 15 personalities to profile from New York’s queer cultural scene.

‘Rimowa came to me with the idea to photograph engaging people from the queer community – which was incredible timing because I have been doing that for the last two years, working on a project called The AutoBody Book,’ says Schorr, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. ‘The genesis of that book is the history of customised cars in America, and the similar ways in which queer folks often create their bodies, their gender, their performance. That it is a creative act to show oneself.’

Schorr’s signature black and white portraits set the tone for thoughtful Q&As throughout, exploring ideas around community and belonging. ‘The process was so seamless because I asked people I knew or were inspired by to come to the studio. A student, a kid I met at the gym, the boxer who owns that gym, an artist I admire, and so on and so on. It was exciting to bring them together and to include them.’

The 2025 edition of ‘Der Eigene’ is limited to 300 complimentary copies worldwide and will be available from 26 June 2025, from a curated selection of magazine and bookstores in the US, Germany, France, and the UK, including BookMarc, Andreas Murkudis, Yvon Lambert Paris and Climax Books

climaxbooks.com

One is a German luggage icon, the other a Swiss titan of modern furniture – but Rimowa and Vitra share a common material obsession: aluminium. For Rimowa, it's the defining element of its Original and Classic suitcase collections. For Vitra, it has long been central to pioneering pieces such as the Eames Aluminium Group chairs. Now, the two brands have channelled their shared interest into a limited-edition capsule for those who like their furniture precision-engineered: a multifunctional stool and a portable toolbox, both made from Rimowa’s signature grooved aluminium.

The stool, released in an edition of 1,000, is described by Christian Grosen, Vitra’s chief design officer, as a 'hybrid object that combines elements of luggage and furniture design'. Essentially, it's an aluminium storage cube fitted with a neat detachable seat cushion and Rimowa’s trademark multiwheel system, allowing it to be easily manoeuvred.

The cube opens to reveal a padded interior upholstered in Vitra fabric, with removable leather dividers designed to keep everyday clutter neatly stored. Grosen explains that the original concept was to create a small office stool for storing a laptop, papers and pens, but the resulting design – with the proportions and poise of a little domesticated robot, equal parts storage and sidekick – works just as well in the living room, bedroom or bathroom.

The toolbox, limited to just 100 pieces, takes its cue from the original Vitra Toolbox by Arik Levy (2010), produced in recycled plastic. This new edition is made from grooved aluminium and fitted with internal recycled fabric compartments, giving it a more robust and luxurious edge.

All aluminium components are produced at Rimowa’s headquarters in Cologne, while the upholstered elements are made at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein. 'Even though we come from different fields, the collaboration felt like a natural fit,' reflects Grosen. 'We share common values: a focus on good design, quality and durability, and the “Aluminium Stool” and “Aluminium Toolbox” reflect the heritage of both brands – travel for Rimowa, and mobile living and working for Vitra.'

Both products will be available from 18 June 2025 at vitra.com and rimowa.com, with the stool also launching in select Rimowa flagship stores from 19 June.

Where once the luggage belt was a sea of near-identical black and grey suitcases – resulting in many a mixed-up passenger after a long-haul flight – a new generation of designers is providing an alternative, choosing vibrant multi-hued finishes to ensure colourful luggage that stands out at your journey’s end.

Historic German luggage maker Rimowa is one such brand embracing a bold palette: joining shades of papaya orange, optic white and glossy nautical blue are ‘Verde’ green and ‘Granada’ pink, arriving this season in time for a season of escape. The new colours will be available across the various sizes of Rimowa’s seminal ridged suitcase – a long-standing icon of industrial design – from the compact ‘Cabin’ to the roomy ‘Trunk Plus’.

Rimowa’s colourful new hues

The ‘Granada’ red will also be available in two of Rimowa’s more recent additions: the brand’s nylon backpack and ‘Sliding Tote’, a travel-primed tote bag designed to slip over the handle of your suitcase for the simplest of departures.

As for their origins, the new colours drew inspiration from the natural world: ‘Verde’ looks towards the ‘milky green’ interior of an agave plant, while the dusty pink of ‘Granada’ looks towards the flesh of ripe pomegranates – a combination Rimowa likens to the synergy between foliage and fruit.

A version of this article appears in the June 2025 Travel Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

Unboxing beauty products on Boxing Day? Well, metaphorically speaking, why not?

Here, we take a look back at the pages of Wallpaper* from the past year, reflecting on the make-up, perfume, tools and accessories that defined our 2024.

Unboxing beauty products from 2024, as seen on the pages of Wallpaper*

Chanel lipstick in Wallpaper* February 2024: The Design Awards Issue

In the February 2024 issue of Wallpaper*, we presented a design award to the Chanel ‘31 Le Rouge lipstick’. The lipstick comes in several shades and textures, all created to be housed in a glass case crafted by Japanese artisans and designed by Sylvie Legastelois.

Read the full article here.

MyBlend led mask in Wallpaper* March 2024: The Style Issue

For the first Wallpaper* Style Issue of the year in March 2024, we turned the spotlight on the MyBlend ‘myLedmask’, with its uniquely contoured design slightly reminiscent of Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In.

Read the full article here.

Acne Studios x Frédéric Malle perfume in Wallpaper* April 2024: Global Interiors

We spoke with the creative director of Acne Studios Jonny Johansson, fragrance legend Frédéric Malle and emerging nose Suzy Le Helley about their collaborative work on ‘Acne Studios par Frédéric Malle’ eau de parfum, previewed in the April 2024 issue of Wallpaper*.

Read the full article here.

Bottega Veneta scented candle in Wallpaper* June 2024: The Travel Issue

Bottega Veneta launched scented candles earlier this year, with three different fragrances available in red, yellow and green lava glaze ceramic pots. We captured the brand’s ‘Redstone’ candle on the pages of Wallpaper* June 2024, which contains notes of plum nectar, tobacco and cedarwood.

Read the full article here.

Rimowa vanity case in Wallpaper* June 2024: The Travel Issue

Rimowa's vanity case also made its debut in Wallpaper* June 2024, our annual travel issue. A reimagined 1970s design from the Rimowa archives, the case is robust enough to contain a multitude of products and tools without fear of damage whilst on the move.

Read the full article here.

Fendi perfumes in Wallpaper* July 2024: The Design Directory

In 2024, Fendi created seven exclusive perfumes, inspired by the personalities and memories of close members of the Fendi family. The collection, which we included in the July issue of Wallpaper*, features refillable glass bottles evoking the vocabulary of Roman architecture.

Read the full article here.

Calvin Klein CK One perfume in Wallpaper* August 2024: The USA 100

The August 2024 issue of Wallpaper* was dedicated US creatives, with an accompanying portfolio shot by Inez and Vinoodh. In addition, we looked at 12 American design icons, including Calvin Klein’s ‘CK One’ eau de toilette. First released in 1994, the fragrance remains a best seller to this day.

Read the full article here.

Solid soap in Wallpaper* September 2024: The Style Issue

For Wallpaper* September 2024, the year’s second issue dedicated to style, we celebrated the pleasures of solid soap, including bars from the likes of Aesop, Celine, Diptyque, Hermès and Sisley.

Read the full article here.

Celine Beauté lipstick in Wallpaper* October 2024: Guest Editors

Celine launched its first-ever beauty line in October 2024, Celine Beauté. Designed by Hedi Slimane, who has since left the house in the hands of his successor Michael Rider, the ‘Le Rouge Celine’ lipstick in a shade of red called 'Rouge Triomphe’ made its Wallpaper* premiere in the same monthly issue.

Read the full article here.

Hermès eye and lip pencils in Wallpaper* November 2024: The Art Issue

Hermès’ ‘Trait d’Hermès’ eye and lip pencils were designed by Pierre Hardy and Gregoris Pyrpylis, the house’s creative director of beauty, to evoke a playful stationary set. We captured the collection’s kaleidoscopic colour palette in Wallpaper* November 2024.

Read the full article here.

Bottega Veneta perfume in Wallpaper* November 2024: The Art Issue

Bottega Veneta’s fragrance collection by Matthieu Blazy (now succeeded by Louise Trotter after his appointment as creative director at Chanel) includes five scents inspired by Venice, with bottles blown in Murano glass. Above, is the brand’s ‘Come With Me’ eau de parfum, as featured in the November 2024 issue of Wallpaper*.

Read the full article here.

Dior perfumes in Wallpaper* December 2024: The Entertaining Issue

In 2024, Francis Kurkdjian, the creative director of Dior Parfums took five fragrances from the house’s ‘La Collection Privée’, reinterpreting their notes in ‘Esprit de Parfum’, a new scent range featured on the pages of Wallpaper’s December Entertaining Issue.

Read the full article here.

Dries Van Noten lipsticks in Wallpaper* December 2024: The Entertaining Issue

After taking a final bow on the runway earlier in the year, for the December 2024 issue of Wallpaper* we caught up with Dries Van Noten about his next steps, which include growing the beauty and fragrance arm of his eponymous brand (and spending more time in his beloved garden).

Read the full article here.

Reflect on a year of trailblazing design with a look back at the top ten design stories of 2024 – as chosen by you, the readers. Wallpaper* magazine's most-read design stories of the year point to exciting firsts, like David Lynch’s debut installation at Salone del Mobile, and Patricia Urquiola and Kvadrat’s upholstery textile made from 100 per cent ocean-bound plastic. There are also collaborative triumphs, such as Rimowa and La Marzocco’s new espresso machine; and the celebration of a design classic, the Rubik's Cube.

Top 10 design stories of 2024

Patricia Urquiola and Kvadrat's sustainable upholstery

Named Best Recycled Material at the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2024, Patricia Urquiola’s Sport textile for Kvadrat was a collaboration with Swiss company #tide and is the world’s first upholstery textile made of 100 per cent ocean-bound plastic.

The post-consumer plastic used is collected within 10km of the coastline of Thailand, as part of #tide’s commitment to prevent the materials from reaching the oceans.

The resulting sportswear-inspired fabric features subtle tactile patterns enriching the surface and a colour palette defined by vibrant shades of purple, green and blue, as well as a series of neutrals.

Writer: Rosa Bertoli

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Design Dynasties: the powerhouse families of Italian furnishing

Wallpaper* met with eight Italian families who, generation after generation, have set the standards of furniture design across the globe. These 'Design Dynasties' generously shared the personal stories and experiences behind their success with our writer Laura May Todd. They spoke of their longest-serving pieces and the dynamics that have emerged from being both a family and a business. Through her photographs, Bea de Giacomo captures glimpses of their familial settings and their most cherished designs.

Writer Laura May Todd

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A new era for Iittala

‘Imperfect’, ‘disruptive’ and ‘unpredictable’ are not words often associated with Finnish design, least of all with Iittala, one of its founding fathers. But new creative director Janni Vepsäläinen is not afraid to use all three and apply them to the 143-year-old company. Iittala now hails a new era, led by Vepsäläinen, and marked by a new logo and collections that pay homage to Aino and Alvar Aalto's heritage.

During Stockholm Furniture Fair 2024, Vepsäläinen unveiled her first collection, within a former nuclear reactor in the city. It wasn't your average debut; London-based composer and artist Damsel Elysium performed a piece using glass ‘instruments’, ranging from 2m-long horns to bells and bottles, all hand-blown in the Iittala factory near Helsinki.

Writer: Emma O'Kelly

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Ikea and Raw Color's vibrant crafts

‘Tesammans’ means 'together' or 'in company' in English. It is also the name of the latest collaboration between Ikea and Raw Color, a studio based in Eindhoven and founded by Christoph Brach and Daniera ter Haar. The collection is full of playful designs, vibrant textures and an eye-catching colour palette.

Ikea’s creative brief to the pair was direct yet liberating – reveal the potential of the spectrum. ‘Raw Color possesses a distinctive grasp of colour’s potency, its emotional impact, and its role in shaping our living environments,’ Maria O'Brian, creative Leader at Ikea of Sweden told us. ‘We aim for this collection to spark creativity and empower individuals to craft vibrant and cheerful living spaces in their daily routines.’

Writer: Yoko Choy

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David Lynch presents 'A Thinking Room' at Salone del Mobile

Visitors to Salone del Mobile 2024 were offered a new cinematic experience. The revered director David Lynch – known for cult films like Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire and Wild at Heart – designed an exhibition entitled 'Interiors by David Lynch. A Thinking Room' on the grounds of the Rho Fiera. The exhibition marked a new kind of venture for the Oscar-winning auteur, but according to its curator, Antonio Monda, former artistic director of the Rome Film Festival, it came not totally out of the blue.

'A few years earlier I presented Lynch the lifetime achievement award at the Rome Film Festival, and when I visited him in Los Angeles I found him polishing a desk. I asked him, what are you doing? And he told me he designs furniture now,' recounts Monda. 'So when the Salone del Mobile invited me to commission a filmmaker for this special event, I knew he was the real deal.'

Writer Laura May Todd

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Rimowa and La Marzocco’s compact espresso machine

Rimowa, globally known for its premium luggage, united with La Marzocco, an expert in espresso machinery, to present a carefully crafted Linea Mini espresso machine celebrating German and Italian design and engineering.

Merging Rimowa's signature grooved aluminium with La Marzocco’s engineering, the Linea Mini is a compact design accessorised with bespoke compartments, and packs an artistic punch with your morning shot of espresso.

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Ido Yoshimoto's sculptural pieces

We visited sculptor Ido Yoshimoto at his California studio, where he spoke about his work with wood, from his beginning as an arborist to his sculptures and furniture made with local reclaimed material – whether salvaged cedar, walnut or cypress, or old-growth redwood downed by disaster.

For Yoshimoto, making art is a way to figure out how things work, and how to fix what is broken. Sometimes it’s just repairing an old pepper grinder or cleaning a fish. But it’s also about living as nature, not with nature, an expression of curiosity and connection. Making art makes the world feel less mysterious because it’s tinkering in its highest form.

Writer: Shonquis Moreno

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50 years of the Rubik’s Cube

Hidden away in Budapest’s Buda Hills stands Hungarian inventor Ernő Rubik’s minimalist five-storey abode. Adorned with multiple scenic terraces, it stars an elevator that conveniently glides between levels and furniture of Rubik’s own design. 'Yes, I made other things, too,' he told Wallpaper* on a tour through his comfortable rooms, 'but people only want to talk about the cube.’

The cube, of course, is the Rubik’s Cube, the bestselling 3D combination puzzle that the inventor dreamed up back in 1974. Twisting and turning into some 43 quintillion permutations, the six-sided cube is clad in vibrantly tinted squares that beckon enthusiastic problem solvers.

Fifty years after its birth, we spoke with Rubik about the history of a design classic.

Writer Alia Akkam

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Air Play Moon Safari

While the ‘Air Play Moon Safari’ tour was in full swing across Europe, the USA and Mexico during 2024 (they're playing 2025 dates too), we explored the design of the French band's White Box stage. They played their intimate, retro-futurist classic album, in full, from a five-sided, white-walled, 21:9 aspect-ratio letterbox that faced its voyeuristic audiences like Hitchcock’s Rear Window property as reimagined by Californian modernists. 'It could be a home, it could be our world, our head… our architectural concept,' they said of the project.

Writer Simon Mills

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Designing the Olympics

How do you begin to design the Olympics? On the eve of this year's event, we pulled up a pew with Joachim Roncin, the director of design for Paris 2024, to learn more about gender-free mascots with a genital likeness and medals made from the Eiffel Tower.

This had been a five-year assignment with a sprawling, impossibly broad scope, a hard deadline, a global audience and – ideally – a positive legacy that will span generations of future citizens. The heat was real.

Writer Hugo Macdonald

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In partnership with Rimowa

The tenets of style, durability and portability have always been central to Rimowa. For over a century, the German luggage brand has perfected designs that strike the ultimate balance between craftsmanship and engineering – robust and elegant suitcases and carry-ons that roll effortlessly from departure lounge to overhead locker, from taxi to hotel lobby.

Now, the company has applied those same principles to a compact new design for the earthbound as well as the airborne – the Original Bag.

The new bag seamlessly integrates the sturdy, aeronautical allure and emblematic grooves of the brand’s classic aluminium suitcases, but is distinguished by proportion and luxurious detail.

Made in Germany, the unisex, hard-sided and lightweight aluminium design – which can be carried by hand, over the shoulder or cross-body – boasts a sleek, durable exterior that pays architectural and material tribute to the brand’s design language.

A leather handle reinforced by an aluminium frame, and a removable and adjustable webbing shoulder strap ensure effortless portability.

The Original Bag also features a Rimowa-pioneered button mechanism for fast opening and closing, while the interior is crafted entirely in Italian leather, with an organised and roomy compartment that features a zipped pocket and slots to store cards.

‘The release of the Rimowa Original Bag marks a new chapter in our history,’ says chief executive officer Hugues Bonnet-Masimbert. ‘We envision this bag to become an indispensable companion across a spectrum of journeys and personalities. Bringing this vision to life was an ambitious technical challenge, and we’re thrilled with the result: a versatile bag that epitomises the disruptive innovation and meticulous craftsmanship Rimowa is known for.’

The Original Bag in silver and black, £1,590, from Rimowa stores and rimowa.com, from 12 September 2024.

Summer – in the United Kingdom, at least – is unpredictable at best. The answer, of course, lies in escaping to warmer climes, though a recent uptick in colourful cases – from Rimowa’s new emerald-green hue to Floyd’s nostalgic, 1970s-tinged palette – promises a shot of brightness before you’ve even taken off.

Here, even for the most colour-averse, we make a case for eschewing the classic steely grey, black and navy for vibrantly hued – but nonetheless sleekly designed – luggage that will stand out on the airport belt and add colour to your summertime escapes.

Floyd’s nostalgic-hued travel cases

Floyd was established in 2019 with the slogan ’giving modern travel its mojo back’, its designs – which span cabin-bag, check-in and trunk sizes, alongside soft weekend bags and wash kits – inspired by 1970s Californian surf culture (the blocky logo reflects the branding of the era). As such, expect an array of offbeat, nostalgic hues, from ‘Bronco Brown’, ‘Hot Orange’ and ‘Vegas Hues’, alongside ‘Miami’ and ‘Pacific’ blues. For an extra flash of colour, Floyd suitcases’ wheels can be removed and customised with the brand’s array of vivid shades, among them neon pink, green and orange, alongside gilded gold and glow-in-the-dark.

Available from Mytheresa and Floyd’s website.

An emerald-green Rimowa classic

Rimowa has long set the standard for luggage, its tough, ridged aluminium-clad cases a perennial design object adopted by musicians, sportspeople and artists, as well as being riffed upon in collaborations with brands from Dior to Supreme (as captured in a recent exhibition, which celebrated 125 years of Rimowa). Best-known for its classic aluminium shell in silver or black, the German brand has lately been adding a slew of new colours to its roster, from soft, gelato shades of papaya and pink, to its latest addition, emerald green. The style is available in cabin, check-in, trunk-plus and cross-body sizes, to match or mix.

Available from Rimowa’s website.

A make-your-own custom Globe-Trotter

Globe-Trotter suitcases – recognisable for their classic, trunk-like designs with signature protective leather corners – are each constructed in the United Kingdom in a process which takes 98 steps and over ten days (the brand, which has been in operation since 1897, promises luggage which is made to last for life). While Globe-Trotter offers an array of hues across its collections – including a pop colour range of neon pink, green and pastel blue (pictured above) – plump for the one-of-a-kind by constructing your own, using its online custom generator. Select every element, from the case colour to hardware straps, trolley leather and webbing straps, in colours from cassis red, lavender and pistachio, to classic camel, grey and forest green.

Available from Globetrotter’s website.

A sorbet-hued Away case for everyday 

’Designed by travellers, for travellers’ – so goes the maxim for 2015-founded luggage label Away, where aesthetically satisfying outer shells meet a roomy interior (all the more so if you also purchase Away’s cult packing cubes). Winner of numerous awards, Away is our pick for everyday reliability, though a vivid colour palette – a hallmark of the brand since its beginnings – retains a sense of play. An array of colours is available, including the two-tone ‘Spritz’ – a collaboration with clothing label La Ligne – and soft, pastel-hued pink, sorbet orange and sea green.

Available from Away’s website.

A subtle shade of Montblanc blue

For those not yet ready for a full embrace of colour, but ready to graduate from ubiquitous black and grey, Montblanc’s #My4810 suitcase in ‘Avio blue’ makes for a subtle stepping stone. A new colourway for A/W24, ‘Avio’ refers to the colour of uniforms worn by aviators, its grey-accented shade of blue described poetically by the German brand as the ’melting of the horizon into the sea’. With the suitcase itself, expect sleek and compact functionality which reflects the exacting design of Montblanc’s famed Meisterstück pen (which turned 100 last year), while a slice of leather along the front of the suitcase adds tactility. It is available in an array of sizes, from the cabin compact trolley to the newly added trunk, for those who have difficulty packing light (pictured above).

Available from Selfridges.

Louis Vuitton’s luminous Horizon 55 carry-on

There is no chance of misplacing your luggage with the luminously toned Horizon 55 from Louis Vuitton, an energetic new iteration of the historic Parisian luggage-maker’s signature carry-on suitcase (its larger counterpart, the Horizon 70, came from a collaboration with industrial designer Marc Newson). Defined by Louis Vuitton as encapsulating a spirit of ‘infinite freedom’, it has been reimagined in a veritable candy shop of iterations, including those adorned with trompe l’oeil travel stickers, illustrations of leopards and ducks, or appearing like ‘denim’. Match it with the Horizon 70 – both of which are available for customisation – for the ultimate travel set.

Available at Louis Vuitton’s website.

Rimowa’s vanity cases were the discerning globetrotter’s staple piece of luggage back in the 1970s.

Now, the brand has reached into its archives and reimagined the Rimowa vanity case anew, catering to the needs of the 21st-century traveller and beauty obsessive, its signature, robust anodised aluminium exterior meaning that you needn’t worry about cracked bottles, smushed tubes, or broken powder products upon arrival at your destination.

RImowa’s vanity case transports beauty products in the utmost safety

Inside, every detail of the case is executed as exquisitely as one expects from Rimowa. Crafted in Germany, the case opens to reveal a pocket lined in Italian leather with a large and strong elastic strap, meaning that even though you’ll be on the move, your lotions and potions will remain stationary. Elsewhere, a water-repellent zipped pocket designed to hold lighter items, is further insurance against any accidental spillages.

Another interior compartment features a removable aluminum and plexiglass tray, emblazoned with RImowa’s monogram, designed for holding smaller items. A flat pouch is also integrated into the case’s top, with a leather-made aluminium mirror inside for any of those bleary-eyed touching-ups at the airport.

Rimowa’s new iteration of the vanity case also features a tight travel strap, meaning that it will also attach securely to your matching suitcase. Of course, it comes with a TSA lock as standard. For travelling during summertime – or, in fact, any time – it’s an essential.

The vanity case by Rimowa, £1450, rimowa.com.

A version of this article appears in the June 2024 Travel Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

The Rimowa Design Prize 2024 was announced in Berlin on 29 April, with Anhalt University's Janne Kreimer was announced as the winner for her innovative RO waistcoat. Kreimer was mentored by designer Andreas Murkudis, and received €20.000 as part of the prize. 

Rimowa began hosting its design prize last year, with the aspiration of nurturing the growth of Germany’s design talent and spotlighting voices that have the potential to shape how we live in the future. Offering prestigious mentorship to the first round of applicants, the contest provides designers with crucial networking opportunities, infrastructural support such as working facilities, and remuneration for its seven esteemed finalists. The contest has also awarded special mention to Daniela Lindenberga with €10,000, whilst the five other finalists have received €5,000 each.

Rimowa Design Prize 2024 winner

Kreimer's RO waistcoat combines technology with exposure therapy to address anxiety: 'Integrating acupressure meridians and Deep Pressure Stimulation, the waistcoat offers a holistic approach to anxiety management, activating the parasympathetic nervous system for a calming effect,' reads a note from Rimowa announcing the winner. 

The prize's special mention went to Daniela Lindenberga, from SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences, who was mentored by Sebastian Herkner. Her project IXO was created as a response to hate crimes in Germany. 'The design is a wearable safety device featuring essential tools like a flashlight, camera, microphone, speaker, and GPS tracker, designed to enhance user safety while travelling,' reads a statement on the project. 

Rimowa Design Prize 2024: exploring mobility

Before reaching its final stage, the brand’s sophomore design prize saw twenty-one semi-finalists take part in a contest that began at the start of 2024, matching some of Germany’s brightest up and coming designers with a selection of judges and mentors, all aimed at tackling this year’s theme of mobility. 

Design students from across the country were encouraged to explore the topic however they saw fit, so long as the final products conformed to Rimowa’s own standards for resilience, excellence, and high quality. Alongside an emphasis on creativity, contestants were encouraged to consider the global nature of their work, taking into account the inclusivity of their practice, their final products’ sustainability, and to foster designs that speak to providing mobility for all.

Not only are these qualities abundant in Kreimer's work, but throughout the finalists’ collective designs. A testament to the prize’s drive toward innovation, and the importance of encouraging flexible and experimental thinking during the design process, the contest has brought a plethora of unique ideas to the fore. 

From Fengfan Yang’s unconventional interpretation of how table design can be adapted to public spaces in ‘Hang On’, to Angelicka Barbie and Sarah Eckerlein’s conception of a head mesh that measures the neurological activity of those living with epilepsy in ‘Epilepsense’, the array of new ideas on display is staggering. Rimowa’s most recent prize has been as much a celebration of the latest in German design as that of the individual creatives involved. 

rimowadesignprize.com

Rimowa, globally known for its premium luggage, has united with La Marzocco, an expert in espresso machinery, to present a carefully crafted Linea Mini espresso machine celebrating German and Italian design and engineering. Presented at Milan Design Week 2024 the new design will debut on 15 April, at the ‘Caffè Rimowa’ pop-up at Capsule Plaza, Spazio Maiocchi.

Rimowa La Marzocco Linea Mini

‘This partnership is a testament to the power of collaboration and the possibilities that arise when two brands come together with a shared passion and purpose,’ said Hugues Bonnet-Masimbert, CEO of Rimowa. ‘Working alongside La Marzocco has been a real design exercise, with a result that celebrates the artistry of coffee-making while embracing German engineering and innovative design, and we’re proud to have been able to bring it to life.’

Rimowa is known for its signature grooved aluminium, which can be seen in its various luggage and accessory facades. Merging this with La Marzocco’s engineering, the Linea Mini is a compact design accessorised with bespoke compartments which packs an artistic punch to a morning shot of espresso. 

Each piece requires 40 hours of intricate craftsmanship and it is made in La Marzocco's factory in Florence, the artisanal skills showcased throughout the design. The grooved panels, meanwhile, were built in Rimowa’s Cologne factory, assembled and installed entirely by hand, with an integrated hot water tap, and knobs made in aluminium. The attention to detail is evident, the Rimowa and La Marzocco monograms proudly embedded as a decadent final touch.

CEO of La Marzocco, Guido Bernardinelli, said, ‘This venture reflects our commitment to excellence and the shared values with Rimowa— an iconic brand synonymous with exploration, innovation, and an unwavering dedication to aesthetic brilliance. Together, we have crafted an exceptional example of two iconic synergized brands that create a brilliant design. Both historic brands that work to pioneer in their sectors, synonymous with quality and durability, have come together, and I am proud to show the public the result.’

Rimowa La Marzocco Linea Mini espresso machine will be showcased from 15-21 April 2024 at the ‘Caffè Rimowa’ pop-up at Capsule Plaza during Milan Design Week 2024

Spazio Maiocchi
via Achille Maiocchi 3
Milan

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lamarzocco.com

Rimowa’s design philosophy is a tidy conflux of opposites: light and easy, durable and tough. So, its current association with musician Nils Frahm makes sense. For a start, those properties are easily translated as a musical instruction, leggiero (light), commodo (easy), forte (hard), while the Hamburg-born composer, producer and pianist is an all-round musical experimentalist who thrives on artistic contradictions. 

For Rimowa, meanwhile – known not only for 125 years of luggage designs but also its creative collaborations with the likes of Daniel Arsham, Palace, and Tiffany & Co – views its designs as ‘visionary tools of movement’, a philosophy you might also apply to any musical instrument, from the voice to the violin and the pianoforte.

Rimowa x Nils Frahm: ‘Hammerschlag‘ up close

But for the launch of its new ‘Hammerschlag’ luggage designs, namely a carry-on and a cabin case, Cologne-born maison Rimowa is specifically focusing on the connection between the texture of hammered aluminium and Frahm, in Berlin, striking the piano, during a performance of his hypnotic ‘Hammers’. Of course, the piano is a percussion instrument that relies on internal hammers to strike each string when a key is pressed, so there’s technological harmony in the mix, too.

Musicality aside, the new designs are gorgeously tactile and luxurious, and that Rimowa is reaffirming its standing as a high-craft luggage house among its myriad copyists is a welcome move. 

Ribbed polycarbonate-style designs are so ubiquitous these days as to slightly obscure the fact that Rimowa innovated the original design. So, whoever it was at brand HQ who suggested going back to its archive, and revisiting the original 1966 ‘Hammerschlag’ deserves a bonus. For there is another haute craft reflected here – the centuries-old Florentine jewellers' hammered-gold method.

Subtly hammering the metal creates a moon-like surface, the craters capturing the light so that it moves around and then refracts. Most recently, Swiss watch marque Audemars Piguet worked with Florentine jeweller Carolina Bucci to create a Royal Oak watch defined by its shimmering, hammered gold sheen. With the Rimowa ‘Hammerschlag’ designs, we see the texture in relief, like little moonstones, so that the light is pushed up, over the curves.

The cognac-leather handles and luggage tag also single out the 2024 Rimowa the case’s luxuriously sleek, mid-century look. And, in case you’re planning a quick trip to Italy with your new carry-on, you might wish to broaden your local lexicon should a curious tourist wish to know more about your limited-edition ‘Hammerschlag’. The musical direction for 'with a hammering touch' is martello. How you express it, however, is entirely up to you.

Hammerschlag cabin bag, £2,130, and Carry Case, £1,770, at Rimowa stores worldwide and rimowa.com

Despite its sleek, minimally adorned exterior – the effect of which is wholly contemporary – German luggage house Rimowa’s new ‘Distinct’ line actually represents a journey back to its roots as a case manufacturer in Cologne at the turn of the 20th century (this year, the brand celebrated 125 years in business with a travelling exhibition). 

That’s because, instead of its now-signature ridged-aluminium casing, the ‘Distinct’ line is entirely enveloped in leather, a material which Rimowa says has not been used by the brand in this way for over 100 years. 

That said, the ‘Distinct’ line – which currently comprises a version of its ‘Cabin’ in black and navy leather – nonetheless marks yet another technological leap forward for the brand, which prizes continuous innovation and an ongoing evolution of its signature pieces. 

As such, each ‘Distinct’ case is crafted using a precise leather-wrapping process, whereby the fine sheets of the material are moulded onto a solid aluminium case to retain Rimowa’s recognisable ridges (originally inspired by the grooves of the world’s first all-metal aircraft). Protective bumpers on each corner are designed to safeguard your belongings while in transit. 

A final flourish comes in a colour-matched leather luggage tag – which can be customised with your initials – a symbolic link to Rimowa’s beginnings in the golden age of travel. 

The ‘Distinct Cabin‘ by Rimowa, £2,490, is available in black and navy at rimowa.com.

A version of this story appears in the January 2024 Next Generation Issue of Wallpaper*, available on international newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today!

Rimowa and Tiffany & Co are bringing back a dose of much-needed cool to travel with a new collaboration staying faithful to the design signatures of both brands. The partnership encompasses new Rimowa and Tiffany & Co jewellery cases, as well as a Rimowa and Tiffany & Co Rock Cut Cabin suitcase.

‘We are proud to join forces with Tiffany & Co, another legendary brand with the finest craftsmanship,’ says Hugues Bonnet-Masimbert, chief executive officer at Rimowa. ‘The creation of such purposeful and one-of-kind pieces represents the centuries of expertise behind both brands and the mastery of engineering that we bring to the table.’

The sharp facets of a diamond are translated into the ‘rock cut’ aesthetic of the cases, which also nod to Rimowa’s signature grooved aluminium surfaces. Inside the jewellery cases is the distinctive Tiffany & Co duck-egg blue, which also decorates the handles, luggage tag and wheels of the suitcase. Useful features, such as generous jewellery compartments in both the case and the jewellery box, join options for personalisation, with a large silver plaque in the jewellery case providing the option for engraving. 

Adds Alexandre Arnault, executive vice president of product and communication at Tiffany & Co: ‘We are thrilled to debut the Rimowa x Tiffany & Co collection, bringing together two maisons with unmatched craftsmanship and innovative designs. This one-of-a-kind collaboration unifies two icons in one, both of which are incredibly personal to me and represent the highest calibre of craftsmanship.’

tiffany.com

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A new travelling exhibition, ‘Seit 1898’, filled with ‘living artefacts’, celebrates 125 years since the founding of Rimowa in Cologne, the German city the luggage brand continues to call home more than a century on.

‘These are far from museum objects,’ says Rimowa CEO Hugues Bonnet-Masimbert at the exhibition’s first stop in Tokyo, where, in June, it occupied Jing Harajuku, a glass-walled gallery space close to the district’s busy metro station. This is not to say that they’re not precious; rather that many of the objects have been donated by those who use Rimowa cases daily, including a phalanx of stars from Pharrell Williams to LeBron James. The exhibition’s next stop is New York, then Shanghai, before finally returning to Cologne; afterwards, cases will then ‘return to their owners and go back to their lives’.

‘Seit 1898’ exhibition: celebrating 125 years of Rimowa

The exhibition’s climax is a display of cases from notable clients that span the fictional (an aluminium case emblazoned with the face of Emily in Paris’ outré couturier Pierre Cadault, for the faux ‘collaboration’ depicted in the Netflix show), the surreal (a clear carry-on used by artist Takashi Murakami, stuffed with soft toy versions of his signature cartoon flower motif) and the heavily customised (musician Patti Smith’s is covered with studio stickers). Other cases are variously battered or scuffed, marks of wear that Bonnet-Masimbert says only attest to their status as lifelong travelling companions.

‘There’s an emotional part to it – people feel so proud of their beloved Rimowa case when they travel, and they were delighted to lend them to us and have them on display,’ says Rimowa’s senior VP of product and marketing Emelie De Vitis, noting that, such is the reality of these pieces, several suitcases came with the discarded belongings of their owners still inside (‘no names,’ she smiles). ‘At the end of the day, they are meant to be suitcases,’ says Bonnet-Masimbert. ‘They’re not meant to be frozen in the past.’

The choice of Tokyo as the exhibition’s first destination was purposeful; in the 1970s, Japan was one of the first international destinations where Rimowa was sold. Its signature aluminium ridged suitcase found rapid success in the country, which De Vitis suggests is down to an affinity between German and Japanese principles of design. ‘[The Japanese] love durability, they love craftsmanship, they love high design,’ she says. ‘I think it has acquired cult status.’

Other stops will have their own resonance; New York will coincide with the city’s fashion week, while a final homecoming in Cologne is currently planned to close the celebrations in 2024. ‘We are super proud to be German,’ says De Vitis of the brand retaining its roots in the country (French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH purchased a controlling share in 2016). ‘Germany represents engineering, craftsmanship, excellence.’

Such facets of Rimowa are on full display in the exhibition itself, which is entered through a liminal reception space evoking the halcyon days of 1960s and 1970s air travel (one wall is mounted with a trio of clocks set to Tokyo, New York and Cologne time, while a vivid blue carpet features vintage Rimowa logos). Visitors are greeted with a huge version of the house’s aluminium suitcase – first introduced in 1937 and given its signature ridges in 1950 – divided into its composite parts and hovering in the air.

Some exhibits trace the brand’s history: one display, featuring shimmering balloons held aloft with puffs of air, introduces the lightweight polycarbonate model launched in 2000. Others trace Rimowa’s rich tradition of bespoke creations, including work for performers (a custom-built case for musician David Garrett’s Stradivarius violin) and sports stars (a tennis racket travel case for Roger Federer), as well as numerous high-profile collaborations with the likes of Dior, Supreme, Fendi, Moncler and Off-White.

The exhibition also operates something like a wunderkammer of curiosities: a cigar case, champagne box, TV and vanity case by the brand all feature. ‘We want to show how versatile Rimowa is, how much we like to play with pushing the boundaries, and how we are comfortable being as maverick as we are,’ says De Vitis. ‘Hopefully, that comes through – we didn’t just want to do it from 1898 to now, just one suitcase after the other.’

Bonnet-Masimbert agrees that ‘Seit 1898’ should ‘not just look backwards, but explain all the steps of the brand’s journey. It’s not a frozen vision of a distant, glorious past, but fuel for us to become better and better’. Innovation and creativity are central, he says, facets he hopes not to simply continue but ‘accelerate’ as the brand makes its way through its second century in business.

‘I think the suitcase industry can be a little serious,’ he says. ‘But in the hands of the right people, it can become a fun journey.’

‘Seit 1898’ Rimowa 125th Anniversary Exhibition’s next stop is New York, where it will run from 8-17 September, 2023 at Chelsea Factory. Stops in Shanghai and Cologne, dates to be announced, will follow.

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A version of this article appears in the September 2023 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, on sale now available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

The best of German design is celebrated in a new collaboration between Rimowa and Gewa, who draw on a shared commitment to functional luxury with a special-edition violin case.

As an expert in mechanical-acoustical musical instruments, Gewa has a century-long history of creating cases for bowed string instruments, building on that here with the new Rimowa violin case. Crafted in Rimowa’s distinctive grooved aluminium, the hardy exterior stays faithful to the brand’s Classic line in its slick, lightweight design.

Rimowa violin case with Gewa

The case, made in Germany, has a hand-finished microfibre interior, which encompasses Gewa’s useful neck pad system. It’s adjustable to fit the length of an individual violin – 4/4 or 3/4 violins would fit most comfortably into the space.

Function is considered first and foremost, with a hygrometer (measuring humidity) and humidifier, an interior storage compartment for accessories, and a protective blanket for the instrument all ensuring the safety of the violin once packed away.

For Rimowa, the violin case is the latest in a line of products that blend elegant aestheticism with durable practicality, seen from the beginning in the first tools created by the brand in 1898. The aviation-inspired aluminium introduced in 1937 set the tone for designs that are both offbeat and hard-wearing, changing the face of suitcases and carry-ons. The brand has built on this functionality with special-purpose designs such as its One Bottle Case (for a bottle of champagne) and Watch Case (for three timepieces). 

In the Rimowa violin case with Gewa, thoughtful details consider the needs of the user, with a shoulder strap and two TSA-approved locks making this piece a fuss-free travel companion. 

From 23 March 2023, the Rimowa x Gewa Violin Case Silver (RRP €2,900 / £2,670) will be available at Rimowa stores worldwide and online at rimowa.com

Announced today, Rimowa has united with cult London-based skate brand Palace on a unique collaboration, Palace Rimowa, which sees the German luggage brand’s signature ridged aluminium carry-on suitcase emblazoned with a graphic print of a ‘dystopic desert landscape’.

The hand-airbrushed print – designed by Palace artists and appearing on Rimowa’s ’Original Cabin’ suitcase – depicts a ‘nomadic figure walking towards a chrome monolith, appearing to be watched over by a sand sculpture of a woman’. Rimowa says the design is a testament to the Cologne-founded brand’s ‘mastery of digital printing’, created with a seamless gradient from a series of vivid colour pigments.

First look: Palace Rimowa

‘Finding common ground in their appreciation for daring designs, Palace Rimowa merges Rimowa’s century-old heritage of German engineering and Palace’s unique approach to fashion and streetwear,’ says Rimowa. Only 500 of the ‘Original Cabin Desert’ will be produced.

Alongside, the brands have also collaborated on a custom skateboard deck, which is a ‘celebration of the spirit of mobility’ – a feeling of movement being central to both brands’ approaches. An ‘infinity’ artwork – which is replicated inside of the suitcase – appears across the deck, alongside the names of both Palace and Rimowa. The board itself is made from 7-ply Canadian maple wood sourced using a regrowth programme, while a colourful collection of stickers are made to emblazon both the deck and case.

Featuring the Palace skate team, a playful film heralds the collaboration, seeing Rory Milanes and Charlie Birch set to meet in Tokyo before a series of events sees them separated in a dystopian universe. Befitting the collaboration’s theme of ‘mobility’, the Palace Rimowa suitcase serves as teleporter, uniting them once again in a vivid desert realm – evocative of that on the case’s exterior.

Palace Rimowa releases on February 10, 2023 at Rimowa stores worldwide and rimowa.com. The pieces will also be available in Palace flagship stores, Dover Street Market London and Los Angeles, and at palaceskateboards.com.

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The distinctive grooved luggage design adorning Rimowa’s ‘Cabin Classic’ suitcase first appeared on the scene in the 1950s. As the purveyor of such an iconic piece of hardware, the brand is well-equipped to be hosting a celebration of design minds. 

The Rimowa Design Prize – launching its first chapter from October 2022 to April 2023 – is a collaboration with 15 top design universities. Each will be offering its students the opportunity to showcase work around their interpretation of the theme ‘mobility’. Rimowa is seeking to facilitate conversations around the global impact of mobility, while finding common ground in the resilience, excellence and quality of its suitcases and carry-ons that are the result of its craft and innovation since 1898. 

Looking back at the depth of German design’s past is a major aspect of the prize, and the luggage connoisseur is acting as a bridge between now and then. CEO of Rimowa Hugues Bonnet-Masimbert highlights the importance of ‘supporting and nurturing the next generation who will be shaping the future legacy of German design’. 

Through a jury comprising Alexandre Arnault, Hugues Bonnet-Masimbert, Manuel Goller, Gesa Hansen, Mateo Kries, Julia Läufer, Mike Meiré, Julius Wiedemann, the competition will award the winning participants with prizes of €20,000 (top prize), €10,000 (second prize) and three prizes of €5,000 (third prize). Additionally, Rimowa will offer a mentorship programme (any student making it through the first round of selections will gain insight from industry professionals, led by a jury member), facilitating the first steps of a new generation of designers.

INFORMATION

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Rimowa’s Pilot Case, as its name suggests, was originally designed with airline staff in mind. Its compact form allows it to slide neatly into the space between pilot seats; it opens from above (rather than along the side), which facilitates access to its contents while in flight; and it’s constructed from aviation-inspired aluminium, which is both resilient and thematically appropriate. It comes as no surprise that the case achieved a cult following among its intended audience at launch in 1994. Less expected was its popularity among musicians and DJs, who favoured the design to protect vinyl and mixing equipment while on the road.

The latter usage serves as the inspiration for the limited-edition Rimowa x Daniel Arsham Eroded Turntable in Pilot Case, which launches on 7 October 2022. This is the second collaboration between the German luggage label and the American artist, following on from Arsham’s interpretation of the Rimowa Classic Attaché in 2019. Back then, Arsham had presented a sculpture of the attaché, eroded to evoke the passage of time, within a contemporary edition of the same attaché; here, the special edition Pilot Case contains not a sculptural version of itself but rather a sculpture of a turntable. 

Rimowa and Arsham started working on their Pilot Case during the pandemic, but as the artist explains, the roots of the project can be traced back to the mid-2000s, when he first encountered Rimowa luggage on a trip to Japan and developed a fondness for the brand. ‘People there used a lot of Rimowa, and it seemed so technical and brilliant,’ he recalls. Now a loyal Rimowa user, he admires both the brand’s engineering prowess, and the lifetime guarantee it offers with each product. ‘You can send dented and damaged luggage to Rimowa, who will hammer out the aluminium and change the wheels out, so it’s back to perfect again. But the case keeps these marks on it, like a patina, a record of its history.’

The same sense of history is ever present in Arsham’s work, particularly in his Fictional Archaeology series, which uses geological materials to create eroded casts of modern artefacts: clocks, cameras, keyboards, headphones, and indeed, turntables. The artist says, ‘these casts are about time shift and dislocation. You’re looking at an object that looks like an archaeological relic, but at the same time, it’s an object that you know from your own experience. That sort of confusion is where the work lies.’

Within his new Rimowa collaboration, the turntable – which is hand-cast from white plaster, and incorporates crushed glass in its eroded areas – is virtually life-size, and meticulously detailed down to the headshell, counterweight and pitch controls. A record, which appears to have been left in the turntable the moment it was fossilised, bears the Arsham Studio and Rimowa logos, the latter modified to incorporate the artist’s double-A emblem.

It is sheathed in a removable protection foam, and slotted vertically into an equally covetable Pilot Case – Arsham has retained the case’s distinctive form and grooved aluminium construction while putting his own stamp on the design with clusters of logos. These mimic the stickers that travellers often use to distinguish their luggage from other near-identical pieces that they may encounter on a conveyor belt, but are in fact anodised into the aluminium, so they too will stand the test of time. ‘All the imagery references historical Rimowa graphics that we found in the archive. They have catalogues dating back to the 1950s, and it was interesting for me to tap into that zeitgeist,’ he describes. Among Rimowa logos from ages past are Arsham’s name, redrawn in various midcentury typefaces. There’s also a ‘Rimowa man’ graphic from the 1960s, who appears to balance a ridged case on his right index finger.

Arsham additionally made minor alterations to a plaque on the outside of the case, the locks, and the labelling on the wheels (‘These are Easter eggs that sit within the design, to differentiate it from regular Pilot cases,’ he says). But crucially, the case has the same multi-wheel system and telescopic handle that is a hallmark of Rimowa’s usual products, so the collector can actually use it like any other piece of luggage if they are so inclined.

The accompanying leather luggage tag, in a specific shade of mint green that Arsham has used for over a decade, is currently not available for individual sale, though one imagines it would be highly sought after in its own right. Also presented with the special edition Pilot Case is a pair of art-handling gloves, another Arsham signature. It helps the user keep the artwork free of fingerprints, and adds a sense of ritual that makes the unboxing experience all the more pleasurable. 

Five hundred models in a silver Pilot Case will be available in Europe, North America and South America on 7 October, while another 500 in a black case will be sold exclusively in Asia. Considering the fervent enthusiasm that Rimowa and Arsham inspire among their admirers, this collaboration seems destined to sell out rapidly.

Just as importantly, it has been an enriching experience for both parties. ‘Daniel’s creative mind is fascinating, so it’s exciting for both our creative and engineering teams to collaborate with him and create something special,’ summarises Emelie de Vitis, chief marketing officer of Rimowa. Arsham adds, ‘A lot of my work relies on some level of imperfection, and that’s definitely not the case with Rimowa. It’s all about precision, so being able to work in that scenario was interesting.’

INFORMATION

Rimowa x Daniel Arsham Eroded Turntable in Pilot Case, limited edition of 500 in Silver (Europe, North America and South America only) and 500 in black (exclusive to Asia), €3,000, rimowa.com; danielarsham.com

USM – the Swiss manufacturer of modular furniture and storage units – is among a select few brands that, by virtue of its timeless designs, rarely has cause to add to its product range. By the same logic, it is particularly selective when it comes to teaming up with other brands. So the news of its collaboration with leading luggage label Rimowa is bound to turn heads. ‘Concept USM by Rimowa’, as the result is tagged, is a perfect union of distinctive elements from both brands – the USM ‘Haller E2’ storage credenza reimagined in the grooved aluminium that is emblematic of Rimowa’s luggage.

Unexpected, but true to the ethos of its two creators, this one-off conceptual piece reflects a shared belief in high craft and functional design that stand the test of time. 

‘USM furniture has always been familiar to Rimowa, as its ‘Haller’ modular system has equipped our headquarters in Cologne for years,’ says Emelie De Vitis, Rimowa’s chief marketing officer, of the project’s origins. 

‘Both USM and Rimowa have worked on refining the same products for decades; Rimowa on the grooved aluminium suitcase since 1955, USM on the ‘Haller’ modular system, which was patented in 1965. Such incremental innovation is only made possible by the highest attention to quality and functionality. Since we see some of our design-driven DNA in USM, it felt natural to work on a concept object together.’

The ‘Haller E2’ storage unit – a best-selling four-module design with elegant proportions and drop-down doors – was chosen for the project. ‘It’s a pure and iconic USM design, a kind of multipurpose furniture which reminds me of a piece of luggage that would accompany you in all situations,’ describes Laurent Crochet, CEO of USM France. He recalls that the project was far from a like-for-like replacement of materials: ‘it was not possible to replace the existing USM steel panels with grooved aluminium panels, without losing some functional features.’

Because the project is meant as a concept rather than a ready-to-sell product, the respective product development teams agreed to cover the existing USM panels with Rimowa’s grooved aluminium panels. The latter were shaped and cut in Rimowa’s historical factory in Cologne, and then shipped to Münsingen, Switzerland, where they were incorporated into the ‘E2’ storage unit in the same manufacturing facility that has produced the USM ‘Haller’ range for more than 50 years. Both brands adapted their factories to create the requisite customised elements, and relished the opportunity to stretch their manufacturing capabilities. 

‘Pushing the boundaries of design and technology is a major guiding force at Rimowa, which is why projects like this one are paramount to us,’ reflects De Vitis, who has proudly put the finished piece on display in Rimowa’s Paris showroom. ‘We’ve always appreciated the USM brand, and this special project only enhanced that. The experimental piece is a testament to the possibilities of two brands coming together.’

The admiration is certainly mutual: Crochet calls Rimowa ‘a very attractive brand with a strong heritage’, and points to the common values and loyal customer base that the two brands have in common. ‘Collaborations are a great opportunity to step back and take a different look at your brand through the eyes and ideas of others. I’m sure there will be some room to go deeper with other collaborations with Rimowa: whether it’s at home, in the office, or on the way to one of them, furniture and luggage are, after all, what you rely on to store, protect and organise your favourite things.’ 

INFORMATION

‘Concept USM by Rimowa’, price on request
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After long months of being grounded – when the concept of travel has shifted from the everyday to the unusual –  we’d like to imagine that when people board a plane or train again, they’ll dress with a sense of occasion, putting a contemporary spin on the glamour and glitz of 1960s jet-set style. One such way to smarten up is to bring a luxurious lilt to your luggage, an investment that's sure to encourage envious stares as you wheel your out-of-office accoutrements through the airport departure lounge or hotel reception. 

Significant style uplift can be found in the latest suitcase offering from French outerwear label Moncler and German travel specialist Rimowa, a collaborative design that is part of the Moncler Genius collection. This innovative line, which first launched in 2018, invites guest brands and designers, from Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli to Comme des Garçons protégé Kei Ninomaya, to reinterpret Moncler’s signature padded down creations, which are as ubiquitous on London’s Sloane Street as they are on the ski slopes of St Moritz. In line with a millennial shopping mindset, these collections are launched as monthly drops, to an online din of anticipation.

Travel right with Moncler and Rimowa's ‘Reflection' suitcase

Moncler and Rimowa showcased its ‘Reflection’ suitcase design back in February 2020, as part of a music festival at Milan Fashion Week, which saw thousands of fans enter huge hangar spaces, each hosting the collections of Moncler Genius designers, including Simone Rocha, Craig Green and JW Anderson. In one space, Pomeranians were preened in a doggy styling salon, wearing metallic puffer jackets from Moncler’s Poldo Dog Couture line; in another, models walked in an interstellar interior resembling a pod from 2001: A Space Odyssey, sporting retro-futuristic ski wear by Richard Quinn. Outside, Rick Owens rocked up in a silver tour bus, with his own guerrilla presentation. Creating a slogan-emblazoned skyline, Rimowa suitcases were also suspended on scaffolding next to huge rolling LED screens, displaying messages including ‘Let’s fly away’, which became laden with irony as, just weeks later, the world ground to a standstill.

For the collaborative suitcase design, Moncler and Rimowa have looked to their joint expertise in materiality. The latter’s signature aluminium suitcase – first issued in 1937 and updated with a hardy grooved patina in 1950 – has been given an alluringly shiny mirrored surface, inspired by the glossy lacquered effect of Moncler’s down jackets and the reflective anti-glare glaze used in its mountaineering equipment. In an innovative interpretation of customisable luggage, the suitcase is also equipped with an LED screen that can be programmed with personalised ticker-style messages using a purpose-built app. This digital detail is also a nod to online messaging, so integral to our identities today.

The collaboration marks an evolution of the Moncler Genius project, with Rimowa being the first travel- and experience-focused brand that the label has collaborated with. It also marks another successful partnership for Rimowa, which in recent years has worked with a host of brands and creative minds, including Dior, Fendi, Olafur Eliasson and Alex Israel. 

Keen to channel jet-set chic when you next travel? Moncler and Rimowa’s LED screen-emblazoned suitcase provides all the style answers you need.

INFORMATION

From £2,780

moncler.com

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When Alexandre Arnault muses on the thinking behind Rimowa Unique – a service allowing buyers of the heritage Cologne-based travel label to custom build their own aluminium suitcases – he uses an automotive analogy. ‘It’s like going online and configuring a car,’ says the 27-year old, who was appointed CEO of the German company in January 2017, after LVMH bought an 80 per cent stake in the 121-year old suitcase maker. ‘You can select the leather, the wheels...Most people have their own cars, and if you have two, from the outside things will appear visually different. It should be the same with suitcases.’

Arnault himself has been going full throttle in a successful bid to boost growth since he joined Rimowa. In two years, the label has rebranded with a slick sans-serif logo, worked on a roster of buzzworthy collaborations with brands including Off-White and Fendi plus artist’s Olafur Eliasson and Alex Israel, streamlined its sale points and product offering and upped its supply chain efficiency. Last month, Rimowa unveiled its first grooved aluminium clutch bag (its first foray into a handbag design), created in collaboration with Dior and tessellated with the French maison's logo, and launched scarlet and marine tone versions of its signature metal style.

Rimowa's pioneering aluminum suitcase was first launched in 1937, after its factory encountered a devastating fire, destroying all of its materials, like wood and leather. The only thing that survived the blaze was aluminium. ‘I think it’s close to a design classic,’ Arnault says of the utilitarian travel essential, which was given its idiosyncratic grooves in 1950, created today by state-of-the-art rilling machines in the label’s Cologne factory. ‘It belongs next to a Leica camera or a 911 Porsche.’

Now, the label is imparting its design capabilities into the hands of its customers. With Rimowa Unique, shoppers are able from tomorrow – instore and online – to personalise the brand’s Classic suitcase with soft Nappa leather handle sets and a luggage tag, and a set of 4 wheels in a spectrum of vibrant hues, including Clementine, Ocean Blue and Paprika.

Luggage customisation is centuries old. Travellers have chosen to monogram or emblazon their suitcases with stickers as a way to identify them on a airport carousel. At a recent Rimowa archive exhibition at Sotheby’s New York, a plywood and leather trunk from the 1950s was hand-painted with the initials ‘KW’. ‘Customisation has been intrinsic to luggage design for years,’ Arnault says. ‘It’s at a point where it’s becoming really desirable again. It allows people to bring their own creativity to the products. Rimowa Unique combines over 120 years of heritage, with a bit of fun and the unexpected.’

With Rimowa Unique, a traveller’s journey begins not with the first step into the Departure lounge, or the embarkation on a yacht. It begins instead with the very building of their suitcase. The possibility of travel is something Arnault has been keen to impart since he joined the label. Rimowa’s collaboration with Alex Israel on a series of hazy colour graded suitcases, based on the artist’s ‘Sky Backdrop’ and ‘Untitled (Flat)’ paintings, evoke the sunsets of the artist’s native LA, while its collaboration with Daniel Arsham on a crumbly attaché was inspired by a an archaeological discovery from the future, resembling an eroding artefact from another planet. Arnault’s wider intentions for the brand are equally interstellar. ‘I’d like to collaborate with NASA,’ he enthuses. ‘And send a Rimowa suitcase into space.’ The automotive just got aeronautical.

INFORMATION

rimowa.com

A worker intently studies an aluminium suitcase on the assembly line at the Rimowa factory in Cologne. He opens and closes it repeatedly, lays it flat, pounds a hinge with his mallet, stands it on its wheels and starts over again. Until this bag is perfectly balanced, it will not leave the factory. Such labour-intensive quality has been in Rimowa’s DNA since Paul Morszeck founded it in Cologne in 1898.

With its immediately recognisable aluminium cases and grooved design, Rimowa is a cult brand, the type that bonds owners in a kind of unspoken club. The German company turns 120 this year, but there will be no one special event, says Alexandre Arnault, the new 25-year-old CEO, who finds the idea of a party ‘outdated’. Rather, it will be a whole year of celebration, of taking a fresh look at the suitcase brand that pioneered aluminium and polycarbonate, and finding ‘a cool way to remind people who we are’.

Tall, poised and impeccably dressed, fluent in French, English and German, Arnault is the third child of LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault and it was his idea that the luxury goods conglomerate acquire Rimowa. He had been using a matte black ‘Salsa’ model since age 17 or 18, when he moved to New York for an internship. ‘My family wasn’t too happy when I travelled with it,’ he recalls. ‘But when they looked at it carefully, they understood the beauty of the product, the craft behind it.’ The family operation has high-profile luggage brands of its own, of course, but when Louis Vuitton started to modernize its suitcase line with lighter and four-wheeled models, Rimowa’s particular set of skills became clear.

LVMH bought Rimowa in January 2017, after two years of negotiation, and Arnault was appointed CEO alongside Dieter Morszeck. He has been actively shepherding the brand ever since, with collaborations, new stores, a pop-up, and no sign of slowing down. ‘What I’ve learned from growing up in my family and seeing other CEOs is that you have to be involved in the product on every single level,’ he says.

In June he hired Hector Muelas, formerly of Apple and DKNY, as Rimowa’s chief brand officer. Early this year they unveiled a new visual identity, a collaboration with Munich-based Bureau Borsche and London-based Commission Studio. The pill-shaped frame and rounded letters of the previous logo have been replaced with an understated design, with a refined sans serif font that ‘encapsulates the timeless and considered nature of the brand’, says Muelas. The colour blue has disappeared in favour of neutral shades – black, white and grey.

The team also designed a new monogram inspired by Rimowa’s original from 1898. It features sharpened vertices like the spires of Cologne’s famous cathedral, intertwined with angular curves that mirror the industrial forms of contemporary Rimowa suitcases.

Both the logo and monogram appear on a redesigned range of packaging. Once an afterthought, Rimowa’s packaging now aspires to be as pleasing as that of an iPhone. There are dust bags, shopping bags with straps held in place by rivets, and gift boxes for carry-ons. Demonstrating a price tag that slides out of a little folder, Muelas says, ‘With every single piece of design, we put a lot of consideration into how it would make people feel. When you buy Rimowa it’s a magic moment. It’s got to have a ritual.’

Paper accessories such as an owner’s manual and notebooks are embossed with fine parallel lines to mirror the suitcases’ grooves. Geographic coordinates appear here and there, making oblique reference to meaningful locations for the company, such as the factory where each case was produced.

The number of meaningful locations is increasing, as last year saw a slew of new store openings in cities such as Paris, Frankfurt and Tokyo. Arnault wants each one to give customers an experience, and he plans to hire in-country architects to design individual stores for different markets. Beyond suitcases, customers in larger cities will discover unique lifestyle products made by local talents especially for the brand. In Paris, for example, the new flagship is selling chocolate bars by Patrick Roger, available until mid-February.

Arnault is also excited about the pop-up concept, having launched the company’s first in Beverly Hills last December, built to look like a luggage conveyor belt and selling products such as fresh juice and travel and design books, as well as aluminium pens by Kaweco and T-shirts by German brand Merz b Schwanen. ‘A pop-up in a new place for six months allows us to try a new store concept, a new design. If it works, great, we learn from it. If it doesn’t work, we also learn from it.’

As for collaborations, Rimowa teamed up with Fendi for a limited-edition suitcase with a belt, leather handles and the double F logo melded onto the aluminium surface. Also launched last December, the cases came with a price tag of €1,700 and sold out within a week. While more such team-ups are on the horizon, Arnault is keeping the details to himself. What he does admit to is his dream collaboration, with Nasa. He plans to contact them soon.

This goal reflects Arnault’s love of technology (he’s a graduate of Paris’ prestigious École Polytechnique). In 2016, Rimowa introduced electronic luggage tags, and the young CEO is considering what other digital innovations might add value for the customer. Nothing gimmicky, he insists. A suitcase with an integrated battery charger would be heavy and unnecessary, while one with its own scale seems practical.

For the 80th anniversary of its signature aluminium suitcase last year, the house produced a fully digital campaign – portraits of Rimowa cases belonging to Karl Lagerfeld, Martha Stewart and the Italian chef Massimo Bottura, among others. Reached at his recent Gucci Garden restaurant opening in Florence, Bottura recalls, ‘I bought my first Rimowa after years of luggage envy, watching other travellers wheel their metal cases around with ease. In particular I was fascinated by the Rimowa photography cases, these big aluminium boxes that protected fragile equipment. Finally, a wheel broke on a black plastic trolley I had and I bought a Rimowa silver bullet trolley at the airport to replace it. And that was the beginning of the obsession.’

At a time when many brands talk about storytelling, suitcases are natural vehicles for it. ‘They’re travel companions,’ notes Muelas, witnesses to the experiences and memories that mark a journey. Indeed, when LVMH announced the acquisition, Arnault received notes from people around the world telling him their Rimowa stories. He says, ‘There’s an amount of love that exists out there for this product that I’ve rarely seen before, and I think it’s linked to this relationship of trust. Our suitcases are so robust that people trust us with their most personal belongings, their most valuable things.’

As originally featured in the March 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*228)

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Rimowa website

For decades, German luggage company Rimowa has been the go-to brand for aluminium suitcases combining an iconic aesthetic with durable quality. Now, the company (which has long focussed on versions of its star product without branching much further) embarks on a new, incredibly ambitious venture: they want to give you the luggage and also the plane to take it onto. 

The company’s CEO Dieter Morszeck (grandson of Rimowa founder Paul Morszeck) presented the newly rebuilt Junkers F13, part of Rimowa Flugzeugwerke’s fleet, at Oshkosh (Wisconsin), during EAA AirVenture, the world’s biggest air show. 

The first all-metal plane in civil aviation (at a time when planes were made of wood and canvas), the Junkers is considered by experts to be the mother of all commercial aircraft. It was launched in 1919 and marked a memorable moment in aviation history – so much so that its design inspired Morszeck’s father to use the same ridged aluminium material for his company's suitcases, which have since become the most iconic luggage in the world. 

A keen pilot himself, Morszeck had been dreaming of bringing the F13 back to life, and has allowed his passion to run deep into the project. ‘We think that the F13 shows our heritage,’ he explains. ‘It is something really special – it gives you the feeling of the 1920s, the adventure of travelling.’ 

Rimowa Flugzeugwerke
is currently in its exploratory phase, with an inaugural flight expected in March 2016 and delivery of the first planes (which will be produced on a by-order basis) later that year. The aircraft will be assembled in Switzerland by a small team of engineers, mechanics and craftsmen, with the same handmade methods and attention to detail as in their original guise. Construction will be as faithful as possible to the original, with minimal adjustments to make the aircraft suitable to contemporary flying and air safety standards.

The plane will be able to fly a range of just under 600km. There will be space for two people in the open cockpit and a further four passengers at the rear, an experience which Morszeck likens to driving a small convertible – a fun, experiential indulgence. 

‘We are not driven by numbers, we are driven by passion,’ explains Morszeck, for whom this project is both a personal dream come true and an exploration of what his company can do, rather than a financial opportunity. ‘We like,’ he concludes, ‘to be the best.’