For their latest partnership, the luxury travel purveyor Rimowa has tapped British abstract artist Ptolemy Mann. She is adept at working with intricate, vivid textiles and now adds her colorful flourishes to two new ‘Essential’ Cabin Threshold suitcases. Both offer new colorways inspired by “Copenhagen’s historical architecture and the maritime spirit of the Nordics,” according to press materials.
Front and back views of Mann’s luggage. Image: RIMOWA.
Over the past 25 years, Mann has honed a process-intensive approach to abstract expressionism exploring Bauhaus architecture and color theory. Recently, the self-avowed ‘Chromatic Minimalist’ has been experimenting with large scale paintings that capture sweeping brushtrokes atop hand-dyed, woven canvases. “Mann is interested in the relationships between colours and their affective potential,” the artist’s biography explains. “For her, painting is an expression of the material world.”
Mann’s work with Rimowa began while she was living near Copenhagen’s harbor for a residency that miraculously offered both painting and weaving studios.
“It was a total coincidence that Rimowa also had been looking to Copenhagen for inspiration for this year’s collection,” Mann told me over email. “The inky dark blue water of the canals being interrupted by swimming figures—it’s a city full of water and colourful architecture—which I think comes across in the final result.”
Inside Mann’s studio. Image: RIMOWA.
Indeed, Mann chose Rimowa’s deep blue Nautical hue as her canvas—and got to work developing a new addition to her ongoing “Threshold” series to suit it. “It was important to capture a sense of immediacy and gesture,” she said of the painting, which took several months to perfect. Ample empty space surrounding her piece allows RIMOWA’s signature ribbed surface to become part of the composition. Inside, the flex divider features its own brushstroke, too.
Mann told me that seeing her artwork on such a relic has altered the way she thinks about both her practice and traveling itself.
“The idea of taking an artwork with you when you travel really resonated,” she mused. “I’ve decided to travel with creative intent. Every trip has to be meaningful and considered.”
Mann’s artwork inside. Image: RIMOWA.
“This collaboration made me want to travel more slowly, take time to fully engage with where I am going,” Mann continued. “I never go anywhere now without my paints and some paper.”
Devising a painting specifically for a suitcase also gave Mann a fresh perspective on the meaning of her “Thresholds” series, which pays direct homage to her efforts animating colorfields as outright portals. “They all have a sense of foreground and distance and a sense of passing through and beyond some ethereal plane,” Mann said about this body of work. “The idea of a threshold you take with you is intriguing and mysterious.”
Only 1,000 editions of this traveling portal will hit the market, so get ready—they debut November 28.
The life of an artist—or even and art professional, for that matter—is often itinerant. No wonder Rimowa has maintained close ties with the art world. Mann joins an esteemed lineage of collaborators. Last year, for instance, the LVMH-owned luggage maison supplied one star violinist with a climate-controlled suitcase to transport his instrument. RIMOWA’s collaborations with the likes of sculptor Daniel Arsham and creative collective RTFKT, meanwhile, have become the stuff of sprawling museum retrospectives.