It’s a particularly niche group of consumers who find themselves needing to be outfitted for a trip to Tibet, but if you’re looking to market a line of ruggedly high-end luggage and bags, the Upper East Side’s Explorer’s Club is probably a good place to start. Home to some of New York’s wealthiest adventurers and world travelers for more than a century, the club launched Tumi’s T-Tech collection Wednesday night to members and a few fashionable outsiders.
Partnering with travel company Abercrombie & Kent, Tumi wanted to capture the spirit of exploration with the new line and, similarly, the launch party. Tumi executive creative director David Chu worked with Shin Advisors and designer Garin Baura to create the event, which took over the club’s second-floor library, trophy room, and patio. Instead of having guests merely look at the luggage, each piece was incorporated into two collaborative installations conceived by Chu and Baura.
The trophy room, temporarily vacant of any big game, featured the first exhibit on a large black wall that completely covered the north side of the space. More than 20 of the bags hung from the façade, sprouting antlers like faceless busts. Blue lighting fabricated a wintry twilight throughout the floor and in the library especially, which hosted a scene from a northern expedition. It featured a white sleigh, piled to the ceiling with luggage, mirror shards fashioned into a pool of ice, and a video of arctic scenes playing on the floor.
Host Richard Wiese, a former Explorer’s Club president and current expedition lead for Abercrombie & Kent, spoke to guests such as Fern Mallis and Kelly Killoren Bensimon while others sampled wonton crisps covered in lobster and mango and summer sangria being passed by the Tumi-clad staff. Attendees also used the opportunity to enter a contest for an all expenses paid trip to Mount Kilimanjaro, where, presumably, the winner will get to try out the new bags firsthand.
