Going Places
Female Singapore|July 2023
Since Its Founding 125 Years Ago, Rimowa Has Carved Out A Niche As A Luxury Luggage Maker With Serious Cool Cachet, Complete With A Rep For Being A Collaboration-heavy Hub Of Creativity. That's The Big Takeaway From The Label's Seit 1898 ("Since 1898" In German) Retrospective That Kicked Off In Tokyo Last Month And Will Wrap In The Brand's Birth City Of Cologne Next Spring. During The Opening Of The Travelling Showcase, Imran Jalal Sat Down With The Company's Senior Vice-president Of Product And Marketing Emelie De Vitis - The Brains Behind Rimowa's Hyper-modern Campaigns And Tie-ups Who Played A Key Role In The Conceptualisation Of The Exhibition To Ask Where This Forward-thinking House Is Headed Next.
Going Places

THE SEIT 1898 EXHIBITION IN JAPAN BEGINS WITH A MAJOR SHOWCASE OF ARCHIVAL DESIGNS. WHAT WERE SOME OF THE ENLIGHTENING MOMENTS WHEN GOING THROUGH THE PIECES TO BE DISPLAYED?

"Cologne is where the company was founded and where we store our archives. Today, though, our archive pieces are displayed in many of our stores around the world as well. We also launched a beautiful book in 2020 called Rimowa: An Archive, Since 1898 (a 274-page tome published by Rizzoli and sold at the brand's stores) that really allowed us to lay out our foundation and document all of our archive pieces ... Working on this exhibition made us realise how important it is to look after our archives because there have been times when we took for granted the products we've developed and didn't necessarily document them as well as we should have ... The experience also reminded us of how lucky we are to have a lot of clients give us their old suitcases and play a part in building this legacy. At our Client Care Centres (how the brand refers to its service centres, one of which is located here at its Mandarin Gallery store) around the world, our technicians would ask the owners of suitcases that they find old and interesting if they would allow us to showcase them. Sometimes, we even ask if we can buy and keep them. Specific to Seit 1898, there were customers who gave their luggage to us simply because they're happy to see the bag travel as part of the exhibition." (Seit 1898 next pops up in New York in September and will wrap in Cologne next year.)

A RIMOWA RETROSPECTIVE WOULDN'T BE COMPLETE WITHOUT SHOWCASING YOUR MANY MEMORABLE COLLABORATIONS. HOW DO YOU KEEP COLLABORATION FATIGUE AT BAY FOR CONSUMERS THOUGH?

This story is from the July 2023 edition of Female Singapore.

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This story is from the July 2023 edition of Female Singapore.

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