Rimowa, a renowned German brand which produces top-of-the-line luggage bags, have taken a step further in their journey. Last week, within the spacious confines of the concourse in Pavilion KL, they hosted a curated exhibition featuring the travel stories of a selected few power players in Malaysia, as well as seven special cases which are customized with wildlife artwork.

The top power players chosen for this exhibition were no other than:

• Wei-Hsiang Chong, Managing Director of Milk PR
• Elizabeth Lee, Founder of Bowerhaus Jewellery 
• Benjamin Yong, Founder of Ben's Group
• Celest Thoi, Bridal Gown Designer and Owner at Celest Thoi
• Yoong Yoon Li, Executive  Director of Royal Selangor
• Muhaini Mahmud, Director of Corporate Affairs, Weststar Group

Most of them are already well-known figures, especially Ben Yong and his newly-wedded wife Elizabeth Lee. Most ladies who have already gotten hitched should recognize Celest Thoi as a very popular wedding gown designer. I personally have worked with Yoong Yoon Li for a profile shoot a few years back, and also for The Peak's Ho Mia charity art event which featured some Royal Selangor pewter teapots. What all these power players have in common, is that they are all long-time Rimowa users.

Stepping into the concourse, we were accosted by trays of cocktails, which we duly obliged. Cocktails first, everything else later. I checked out the beautiful wildlife art work first, because they are so prominent and so beautiful.









The raccoon and tiger bags are my favorite, even the beetle bag doesn't look too bad. There were also some existing bag collections on display around the area, where guests can buy and customize on the spot at a special price.



Next up, we walked around to check out the exhibitions by the power players. They are mostly arranged by a theme and a story that reflects their personality and lifestyle. These are my top three favorites, which i find the most interesting.




Benjamin Yong was called up by emcee Bernie Chan to answer some questions about how he travels. Apparently, he and Elizabeth (tries to) use a minimum of 8 pieces of luggage every time they travel. There will be more used especially if he's scouring his destination for new and unique ingredients.





Celest Thoi is one cute and quirky character. I love how her exhibition piece is very red and white – has a wonderful Christmassy feel to it! When questioned, she says that she tries to travel light, by taking 2 or 3 pieces of luggage, sometimes more if she's sourcing for materials. She was asked,"How many wedding dresses can you fit into one bag?" She answered, about 4. The poofier ones would probably take up one whole bag. Oh, the value of wedding dresses.






Wei-Hsiang has one of the more interesting set-up and lifestyle. He loves to dive and go for fishing trips, and evidently, Rimowa bags are perfectly made for this sort of thing. They come in smaller sizes too which nicely houses his equipment and helps him organize all the different things. I wished Bernie had asked him if he uses any of the Rimowa bags to keep his catch of the day – that would definitely be interesting to know.



Each of the power players were given a small token of appreciation by Rimowa, a miniature model of a German aircraft. Why? Because the streamlined and lightweight design of the luggage bags are inspired by the German aviation industry when it was founded in 1898.


Also, during the event, guests were introduced to a preview and a chance to pre-book Rimowa's latest Bossa Nova collection. The collection is very modern and chic, plus you can also see how lightweight it is when the models picked them up with complete ease. I would so love to own a piece of Rimowa!