Life in a suitcase: travelling with everything you need for your holiday
Retro trunks and spacious, high-tech containers that double as safes, audio systems and luggage for a slower pace of life. With plenty of space, above all, for the non-essentials.
Moynat 1849. Franzi 1864. Rimowa 1898. Globe-Trotter 1897. Louis Vuitton 1854. Five legendary brands specialising in suitcases and trunks – and later leather goods – were founded in the second half of the nineteenth century during the Golden Age of travel, when travelling was an extension of life – not a break from everyday life – and carried much of the latter with it, stored in spacious cases. There was room for the essentials and the non-essentials, because the essentials are easier to replace. The non-essentials, on the other hand, are exquisitely personal, whether they be a selection of rare books, an irreplaceable skincare collection or everything needed to pursue one’s passions.
XL luggage, once a necessity for travel that was inevitably slow (travelling by ship, lasting weeks or months), is now an essential part of slow travel by choice. Peace and quiet are among the priorities of modern travellers, drawn to destinations where the absence of hustle and bustle and contact with natural rhythms help to recalibrate their mental state. People travel to immerse themselves in the experience, rather than simply to go through the motions or consume it. This is why you need luggage that is not only functional, but also inspired by passion.
Franzi has incorporated advanced technological solutions – such as refrigeration and lighting systems, safes and interactive screens – into its lightweight trunks made from high-quality materials, with a design tailored to customers’ wishes and meticulous attention to detail: the Music Trunk features a high-definition audio system for the vinyl collection housed within. Perfect companions for long-distance holidays. During the recent Milan Design Week, Moynat inaugurated its first Italian showroom in the courtyard at Via Montenapoleone 3, presenting a collaboration with three artists, including Michael Samuels, who created The Footprints of Travellers: a vertical structure composed of suitcases and trunks from the 1960s, whose patina serves as a memory and reflection of time gone by.
Also hailing from the past is the Horizon Aluminium, Louis Vuitton’s first aluminium suitcase, which marks the 10th anniversary of the brand’s collaboration with designer Marc Newson and draws inspiration from the trunks made for explorers in the late 19th century. The trolley is crafted using stamping and laser-cutting processes that shape the aluminium sheets whilst maintaining the Horizon’s curves. The embossing of the Monogram pattern was a technical challenge that has become a structural feature, in keeping with Newson’s vision. The innovation: the absence of rivets, replaced by an ultra-thin frame.
Luggage that incorporates time and makes it visible is one of Rimowa’s key concepts; with its Original model, the brand continues to explore the idea of a journey that leaves its mark on the objects that accompany it. These are collectable visual marks, to be added even before setting off. In collaboration with the Museum Ludwig in Cologne – the brand’s birthplace – A Journey Into Art has been created: a limited-edition book of stickers featuring reproductions of works by six artists, which establishes a dialogue between art and Fernweh, an untranslatable German word denoting a longing for elsewhere, a longing for distant places yet to be experienced. An archive of memories in motion: this is the description of the collection born from the collaboration between Etro and Globe-Trotter, the British luxury luggage brand. The vulcanised fibre frames are lined with Arnica fabric featuring a Paisley pattern, lending visual and tactile richness to each piece. Travel becomes a way of life, where one’s luggage is an expression of one’s own way of experiencing the world. The patch is included and bears the inscription Since 1968, the year Etro was founded.
