Rimowa and Faber-Castell build an aluminium case for 120 colored pencils

Rimowa has partnered with Faber-Castell on an Artist Case, a piece of luggage built specifically to carry drawing tools rather than clothes. The German luggage maison's grooved aluminium shell opens to reveal a two-tiered system holding 120 Polychromos colored pencils, a set of grooved 2B graphite pencils, and platinum-plated sharpener and eraser tools.

Every drawing instrument in the case is made in Germany, matching the manufacturing origin of both brands. The graphite pencils carry a grooved finish that echoes the ridges running along Rimowa's aluminium shells, tying the writing instruments directly to the luggage that houses them rather than treating them as a separate accessory.

The case itself keeps Rimowa's signature grooved aluminium construction, the look the brand has built since it was founded in 1898. A leather handle is on the two-tiered pencil tray, and the whole set is designed to move with an artist from a first sketch through to full color.

Why Faber-Castell was the partner

Faber-Castell was founded in 1761 and remains a family-owned company now in its ninth generation, a rare continuity in an industry built on constant relaunches. Its Polychromos range has been a staple of professional and amateur artists' desks for generations, which is the credibility Rimowa is borrowing for a case aimed squarely at working creatives.

Rimowa frames the Artist Case as an extension of its history of supporting artists rather than a one-off novelty. The brand's most recent creative partnership was with Museum Ludwig, for which it produced a series of artist stickers that gave the traditional luggage sticker a new creative purpose rather than a purely decorative one.

Rimowa also runs an annual design prize aimed at supporting and mentoring a new generation of creative thinkers, giving them exposure to the wider design industry. The Artist Case sits alongside that program as another way the brand positions itself inside artistic and cultural conversations rather than purely as a maker of suitcases.

Where Rimowa fits our own coverage

We have tracked Rimowa's range expansion beyond hard-shell suitcases before. Our coverage of the brand's Never Still collection looked at a softer, more flexible line built for daily journeys rather than long-haul flights, a signal that Rimowa keeps stretching its aluminium identity into new formats.

Rimowa luggage also turns up in our own gift guides as a piece worth the spend. Our guide to luxury gifts for her lists Rimowa Original luggage among items built to last a decade, while our guide to gifts for him includes a Rimowa briefcase in its no-limit tier, alongside a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso and a Montblanc Meisterstück pen.

We have also reviewed travel bags built for carry-on use more broadly, including Rimowa alongside Bellroy, Osprey and Eagle Creek in our review of the best travel backpacks, a reminder that Rimowa's reputation rests on functional design as much as on collaborations like this one.

The Artist Case is a different proposition from either of those categories. It is not meant to move through an airport so much as sit on a desk or studio table, holding tools rather than clothing, which makes it closer in spirit to a display object than to the luggage Rimowa is best known for.