The Swiss workshop that built Donald Judd’s furniture makes two aluminium objects for RIMOWA
A suitcase is nomadic by nature. Always moving, always headed somewhere. But when the journey ends, where does it go? Most suitcases wait for the next trip on top of a wardrobe, under a bed, in the corner of a storage room. Hidden.
RIMOWA looked at that question differently. What if a suitcase were displayed rather than hidden? What if you built furniture that shows an object rather than storing it away?
At Milan Design Week 2026, RIMOWA unveiled two objects in collaboration with Swiss furniture maker Lehni.
The name Lehni may be unfamiliar, but its résumé is not. Founded in Zurich in 1922 by Rudolf Lehni as a sheet metal workshop, it soon became a meeting point for artists and architects. Max Bill. Ernst Gisel. And Donald Judd. The furniture collection of Judd, one of the defining figures of Minimalist art, was actually manufactured by Lehni. Swiss modernism and precision engineering, now carried forward by the fourth generation of the family in Dübendorf.
RIMOWA and Lehni met over aluminium. RIMOWA has engineered aluminium luggage in Germany for over a century. Lehni has manufactured aluminium furniture in Switzerland since 1922. Two companies meeting to make furniture for luggage was a natural outcome. What’s notable is that this marks the first time Lehni has adapted its legendary modular system to the specific purpose of suitcase storage.
There are two objects.
The RIMOWA Lehni Bench is an open-shelving structure that holds two cabin-sized RIMOWA suitcases side by side. It doesn’t hide them. It presents them, next to each other, as if on display. The RIMOWA Lehni Drawer places stacked storage within a sculptural frame, with a single closed drawer for smaller objects.
Both are hand-finished at Lehni’s factory in Zurich. Anodised aluminium, black or silver. In true Lehni fashion, bolts and technical components are not concealed but highlighted, showing the precise cuts, folds, and joint details openly. Each shelf is topped with a specially developed felt mat to prevent scratching.
Each piece is priced at €3,200. Released April 21, 2026, available on RIMOWA’s website and at select flagship stores worldwide.
In Milan, a temporary space called the RIMOWA Lehni Visitor Center hosted the collaboration. A curated selection of travel-themed books from Switzerland’s INNEN Publishing sat alongside the furniture, and a postcard mailing station invited visitors to send a handwritten note from Milan. A luggage company placing the emotional, analogue side of travel, handwritten postcards and books, right beside its objects.
Editor’s Note
Working in interior design, the question this collaboration raises is an interesting one. How do we store things? Most storage aims to hide. Out of sight, clean, as if nothing is there. RIMOWA and Lehni asked the opposite. If an object is worth seeing, why hide it?
This is not furniture for storing a suitcase. It’s a declaration that elevates the suitcase to an object. The €3,200 price is, in fact, higher than the cost of a suitcase itself. But whoever buys this furniture is not buying storage. They’re buying a stance on how to treat their own things.
A good object, in the hands of someone who uses it well, keeps doing its job. RIMOWA Lehni adds one more thing. A good object deserves to be seen.
RIMOWA Lehni Bench / RIMOWA Lehni Drawer | €3,200 each (approx. $3,678)
Material: Anodised aluminium (black / silver) + scratch-resistant felt mat
Made: Hand-finished at Lehni’s Zurich factory | Limited edition
Bench: open shelving for 2 cabin suitcases / Drawer: stacked storage + drawer
Released: April 21, 2026 | Debuted: Milan Design Week (RIMOWA Lehni Visitor Center)
Brands: RIMOWA (Germany, est. 1898) × Lehni (Switzerland, est. 1922)
Lehni history: manufactured furniture for Max Bill, Ernst Gisel, Donald Judd
