Son Heung-min Kicks Off TUMI's Fall 2023 "Essentially Beautiful" Pop-Up
Featuring a multidirectional perspective sculpture by American artist and Perceptual Art pioneer Michael Murphy.
For Fall 2023, business and travel essentials specialist TUMI recently took over the atrium of Seoul’s Lotte World Mall for a special pop-up experience. Dubbed “Essentially Beautiful,” the pop-up now draws inspiration from the signature contours and cutting-edge craftsmanship of TUMI’s iconic 19 Degree hardside luggage. Aside from serving as the exclusive launch of the season’s full collection, the immersive experience also featured a multidirectional perspective sculpture by American artist and Perceptual Art pioneer Michael Murphy.
To kick off the TUMI Fall 2023 “Essentially Beautiful” pop-up, South Korean pro footballer and TUMI Crew member Son Heung-min welcomed those invited to a private VIP event alongside Vice President of TUMI APAC and Middle East Adam Hershman. “I’m thrilled to be a part of TUMI’s pop-up – and even more so that we’re in my home country. Excited that everyone gets to experience the Essentially Beautiful campaign in this special place,” said Son Heung-min.
The modern TUMI 19 Degree Aluminum installations and artwork offered an evocative backdrop to the Hypercraft design and features of each new TUMI piece, highlighting how true beauty lies in the details. Leading the display is Murphy’s TUMI Hypercraft Sculpture which pays tribute to TUMI’s iconic 19 Degree design. Comprised of seemingly disorganized suspended elements, the centerpiece plays on perception, creating an illusion of a 19 Degree Aluminum piece morphing into the TUMI logo letter “T.” Other standouts include a locker-inspired display featuring collectibles and merchandise signed by Son Heung-min, Tegra-Lite® collection photo opportunity, and an exclusive showcase of TUMI’s latest enhanced durability “Alpha X” collection.
“We’re thrilled to be presenting a manifestation of our brand and the Fall 2023 collection through the Fall 2023 Essentially Beautiful Pop-Up,” said Victor Sanz, Creative Director, TUMI. “TUMI’s relentless pursuit of excellence and passion for what we do is displayed beautifully through the installations. Collaborating with Michael Murphy and Son Heung-min underlines our obsession with finding beauty in the details and constantly elevating performance.”
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Take a look at the TUMI Fall 2023 “Essentially Beautiful” pop-up above, and catch our interview with Adam Hershman and Michael Murphy below.
Adam Hershman
Can you please explain the concept behind “Essentially Beautiful” and how it is related to the DNA of TUMI’s design excellence and performance luxury?
“Essentially Beautiful” is a concept that Victor Sanz, our Creative Director, came up with. To me it’s DNA, it’s a commitment to design excellence, but also creating products and experiences that perform at the highest level. So, combining these two elements is what this pop-up and concept are all about. And really, when you talk about “Essentially Beautiful,” it’s not just the exterior of TUMI bags that make us different. It’s when you look into the details of the product, the essence, if you will, of the product, it’s the combination of all of these details that make up the exterior, the functionality, the performance when you bring them all together. That’s to me “Essentially Beautiful.”
Innovation and elevation are key to TUMI as a leading travel lifestyle brand, can you discuss their importance and how these key tenets continue to be expressed?
Innovation and elevation have been a key component of what’s allowed us to be successful, the brand has been around for 50 years, so a lot has changed. But to me, despite its history, TUMI is still as relevant, maybe even more relevant than ever. We tend to be very consumer and product-focused as a brand and we’re always looking at ways to improve and to meet customer needs and often exceed expectations. No product for us is ever totally done. Every collection is an evolution.
How has the outlook of travel changed and how does TUMI continue to address the needs of travelers?
I think you’ve seen a really strong recovery in Europe and in the United States over the last couple of years. Asia is still on the path to recovery, not fully recovered yet. I see a lot of further opportunities in Asia. Certainly from a trend perspective, you’ll see people taking longer trips. We’ve observed high demand for our larger size suitcases. More recently, people are looking to reconnect with people who they haven’t seen in a long time so we see a lot of the larger pieces selling. We’ve also seen a lot of downsizing in terms of what people are carrying with them. So we have a very robust assortment of fully functional smaller bags and convertible carry-on options.
In your outlook of how you wish consumers to see the TUMI, what do you wish the brand to be associated with?
Certainly, we’d like to associate ourselves with achievement-minded people. People who are on the journey to be the best at what they do, to be their best self, if you will. Which is why we partnered with people like Son. As a company, we are obsessed with performance, and helping people on their journey, whatever that journey may be. We also want to inspire people to take on their own journey with confidence.
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Michael Murphy
What did you look to capture with your multidirectional perspective sculpture for this pop-up?
TUMI’s design excellence, innovation, and attention to detail. There are a lot of parallels between the brand and my work. Innovation, I consider myself an inventor, and working with new materials every time, trying to innovate, and pushing the boundaries to create something new. And, to me, that’s what TUMI does as well, all those elements that come together to create one functional whole, it’s just like my work, where these different pieces come together to create one unified thing.
What drew you to perceptual art and what has informed your artistic language?
The attention to the viewer and their experience when they interact with an artwork, I have kind of always paid attention to what excites people. And, there’s this element of surprise, and discovery, the reward, when a person investigates or looks more closely, sometimes there’s a payoff. They may get a reward for investigating it and thinking about it critically. The opportunity to provide a unique and rewarding experience for people is what really drew me to this.
As a pioneer of perceptual art with your creations is there a specific response you aim to elicit from viewers?
I try to create an experience, and for me that’s the end product. I’m not trying to create an object or image. Beyond that, what’s more important to me is the experience of the individual. Because if I can make you like, have a good time, that’s what it’s all about.
Lotte World Mall
Atrium, 1/F, 300 Olympic-ro,
Songpa-gu, Seoul,
South Korea
In case you missed it, look inside Suicoke’s BELOWGROUND pop-up.
