Emotional baggage: Rimowa in Berlin

Known to Dubai’s savvy travellers as a go-to luxury travel brand (available in the UAE through Jashanmal), Rimowa has opened its newest store  in Berlin. Designed by London-based Universal Design Studio, the new space at Kurfürstendamm 53 marks an important milestone for the brand’s continued evolution.

Rimowa’s Berlin store. Image Credit, Felix Loechner

The first Rimowa boutique in Berlin, the new location on the prominent luxury-shopping boulevard features a bespoke, site-specific design developed in collaboration with the award-winning London-based architecture and interior design practice Universal Design Studio. The brans sought to integrate the city’s own strong identity into the historic retail space, subtly introducing the DNA of the brand.

Rimowa’s Berlin store. Image Credit, Felix Loechner

Universal Design Studio took a gallery-style approach in the layout of the 220sq. metre location – a listed period property – intentionally leaving aspects of the existing fabric of the building unfounded, while inserting fixtures to act as free-standing sculptures. The display furniture throughout the three rooms allows the suitcases to be perfectly framed whilst celebrating aluminium – a material synonymous with the brand – in its textural beauty and material possibilities. The store was designed with evolution in mind, therefore fixtures have been kept modular and adaptable, and will be able to host new ranges of product as well as future events and programming.

Rimowa’s Berlin store. Image Credit, Felix Loechner

The contemporary presentation displays feature products in a way that both invites user interaction and also educates on the product’s components and materiality. The bright interior integrates lighting and design elements that bolster the presentation of the entire luggage collection.

Rimowa’s Berlin store. Image Credit, Felix Loechner

Inspired by the brand’s current global campaign film ‘Never Still’, the interior design aims to de-construct the moments the Rimowa suitcase is with you throughout a journey, through the composition of abstract, material vignettes. These create contrasting textural backdrops to the highly engineered suitcases, transferring segments of the urban landscape into the store concept. A new accessory wall prominently showcases luggage accessories of varying sizes and materials providing a spotlight for the many iconic components of the brand, including stickers, coloured wheels, handles and luggage belts.

Rimowa’s Berlin store. Image Credit, Felix Loechner

In addition to the innovative retail presentation, Rimowa Berlin also hosts a repair centre. Conceived as a laboratory, the repair workshop is visible from the retail floor, a reflection of the brand’s commitment to both the product line’s longevity and a lifetime of service.