Every new design by Ross Lovegrove can be seen as an expression of love for the materials that make up the universe and their laws. A love that grows and assumes many different concrete forms, in a luxuriant wood inhabited by all manner of organisms, from flowers to ancient trees. The design developed by Lovegrove (a truly prophetic name) is situated in what he calls “new nature”. It is focused on a different creative approach to the science of materials and their structural composition. The goal, though, always seems to be lightness. “This evolutionary position – founded upon the concept of growth, perforation and liberation of the solid surface, on liquid structural membranes and ultimately on the forms created by intrinsic and extrinsic forces – is, I believe, leading us towards a new freedom of expression in architectural and industrial design.” As an evolutionist biologist on loan to design, Lovegrove has for some time been exploring the potential of composite materials based on carbon fibre.

This polymer is a form of graphite (a pure carbon state) whose atoms are arranged in aromatic hexagonal rings to form a sort of “wire netting”. When combined with epoxy resins and other thermosetting materials, carbon fibre resembles a skin. By stratifying multi-skins, each of which can have different characteristics, and placing the strata according to the lines of stress to be supported by the end product, a composite material is obtained. Its remarkable characteristics, exceptional resistance and lightness make it ideal for the most varied applications. It is also used extensively in the car and motorcycle industries. In Lovegrove’s work, carbon fibre opens up visionary opportunities, as in his design for the Cranbrook Pavilion and its vertical evolution, the Carbon Fiber Skyscraper, to foster the study of alternative means of transport, such as the Kyoto concept car and the Biolove bicycle. But carbon fibre is also used in the manufacture of objects, such as the Gingko table, or the latest suitcases designed for Globe-Trotter. All of which in some degree “enrich the polysensorial nature of our existence”.

Generations of travellers have been accompanied by luggage made by Globe-Trotter, the firm established in Saxony in 1897 by David Nelkin and based in London since 1901. Its exclusively handmade suitcases have long been true icons of British style. The early models were made with fibreboard, an ash frame and details in leather. The new line designed by Ross Lovegrove, presented on the occasion of the company’s 110th birthday, abandons the original Vulcan fibre, a Globe- Trotter exclusive, in favour of carbon fibre. Appropriately, this too happens to have been invented in Britain, in the 1960s. As a result, however, the suitcases have ceased to be exclusively Made in England, because Ross Lovegrove has brought in the services of the Japanese Toray Corporation, a world leader in the field of composite materials and the biggest producer of carbon fibre. Toray assisted him and the firm in the advanced development of the matrix weaves that made the characteristics and advantages of the suitcase possible. Extremely light (the standard model weighs just 1.41 kg), the onehundred&ten sums up what Lovegrove calls “Craftech”, a creative combination of craftsmanship and technology.

The Japanese are dab hands at it, and the luggage manufacturing techniques used are very close to those of motorcycle engineering. Not by chance, the workshop that helped the designer develop the prototypes collaborates on a regular basis with Kawasaki. After two years’ work, the onehundred&ten series made its debut in Tokyo in November 2007, with three models: Attach Case, Air Cabin Case and Trolley Case. The latter is characterised by an intelligent handle system that surrounds the case on the outside, leaving the insisde free from tiresome extender mechanism humps. Also, the wheel movement is particularly soft and silent. Finally, if translated into Italian, the name onehundred&ten is not only a reminder of the British company’s anniversary, but also an implicit indication of special distinction.