Rimowa Is Launching a 125-Year Retrospective in Tokyo, and It Includes the Suitcases of Billie Eilish and Bella Hadid

To celebrate its 125th birthday, the Cologne, Germany-based luggage brand Rimowa is launching a traveling exhibition that’s as much a timeline of its history as it is an object study in peripatetic curios.

Called “SEIT 1898” (“seit” is the German word for “since”), the expo features a modular series of dioramas, which spotlight everything from the company’s highly recognizable grooved aluminum cases–which were first introduced in 1950, paying homage to the cladding on a 1919-invented Junkers aircraft–to “Special Purpose” one-offs, like violin or wine carriers, to a wunderkammer of artist editions and collaborations (Supreme, Off-White, Palace Skateboards, Porsche, and Dior to name a few, many of which have happened since LVMH acquired Rimowa in 2016). SEIT 1898 opens in Tokyo’s Harajuku neighborhood on June 8, rolls to New York City in September, and concludes in Cologne in early 2024.

“It’s an example of the power of consistency over time,” says Emelie de Vitis, Senior Vice President of Product & Marketing at Rimowa, speaking to the layered and eclectic universe the company has built and its steadfast, look throughout the eras. De Vitis played a key role in bringing SEIT 1898 to life. She adds: “From the beginning, it was upheld that Rimowa would be meticulous in its craftsmanship, and that it would simultaneously be an innovative brand that adapts to changes in travel habits no matter how expansive. That’s unique.”

SEIT 1898 highlights century-old designs (that were originally conceived by the company’s founder, Paul Morszeck, for nascent car travel) next to recent, hyper-modern concepts, such as an aluminum case reimagined by the artist Fabian Bergmark Näsman with a thicket of polished, protruding “horns.”