Rimowa Marks 125th Anniversary With Exhibit in Tokyo
TOKYO — German luggage brand Rimowa is celebrating its 125th anniversary with an exhibition that opens in the Japanese capital on Friday, before traveling to New York and the company’s hometown of Cologne, Germany.
“Rimowa has a history with Japan that dates back four decades, with the first Rimowa suitcase having been sold in the country in 1979. The bond with our clientele has kept growing ever since, with our products gaining a steady cult following in the process,” said Emelie de Vitis, the company’s senior vice president of marketing and product. “Also, Tokyo is a place we cherish, having previously held one of the stops of our ‘As Seen By’ exhibitions here. So, it only made sense that we look to the city for this occasion, allowing us to further cement our presence and to give the opportunity to our Japanese market to truly immerse themselves in our history.”
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Rimowa suitcases have something of a cult following in Japan, showing up often on airport conveyor belts and even in the displays of fashion boutiques.
“We create every piece with longevity in mind, and this is of particular significance in Japan considering there’s a great appreciation of durability, reliability and functionality in general, as well as integrity,” de Vitis said.
With the COVID-19 pandemic now considered largely a thing of the past, international travel both to and from Japan has resumed, leading to a renewed interest in Rimowa luggage. De Vitis declined to provide a sales figure for Japan, but said that the brand’s business acceleration in the country is “unprecedented.” The brand has plans to beef up its distribution across Japan, and will be renovating two of its freestanding stores —those in Fukuoka and Tokyo’s Omotesando — within this year.
The “Seit 1898” exhibit, which means “since 1898” in German, features a variety of Rimowa cases, advertisements, catalogs and other items that tell the story of the brand’s heritage, technologies and aesthetic identity. The entire space is designed to mimic an airport, complete with a check-in desk where visitors get custom boarding passes printed with their name on them, and piped-in recordings that sound like boarding announcements.
Upon entering the exhibit, visitors are greeted by a three-dimensional rendering of one of Rimowa’s earliest advertisements, in which a leather trunk appears to fly through the sky as a Wright brothers-designed plane. Other historical items on display include colorful ABS cases from the ’80s, one of the brand’s first aluminum suitcases from 1955, and a Tropicana photo case, which was the world’s first fully waterproof suitcase and was launched in the late ’70s to protect sensitive photography equipment.
One wall is covered in a collage of polycarbonate cases in bright colors, while another section celebrates pieces made for special purposes. There are cases designed to hold everything from 12 bottles of Champagne to musical instruments to golf clubs. While some are prototypes, others either were or still are part of Rimowa’s commercial product line. Still others are completely unique, made specially for a particular person, such as Pharrell Williams’ yellow keyboard case.
Further into the exhibition is a room celebrating Rimowa’s many brand collaborations, such as ones with Adidas, Supreme, Porsche, Fendi, Moncler and Dior. Near the exit of the space is a terraced platform that holds suitcases that have been returned or lent to the brand by friends. Patti Smith, Takeshi Murakami, Hiroshi Fujiwara and LeBron James are represented, and there are also cases on display that were used in the filming of “Mission Impossible” and “Emily in Paris.”
The Seit 1898 exhibit will be open to the public in Tokyo from Friday through June 18. After that it will be packed up and moved to New York, where it will be on display from Sept. 7 at the Chelsea Art Factory, coinciding with New York Fashion Week. Its final stop will be back in Cologne next year.
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