Some inventions help change the world. Others are designed to make life just a touch more pleasant. The Negroni Trunk is such a creation. The product was born from a love for this quintessential Italian tipple, a fondness for tweed, Land Rovers and adventure. This is a project of chance, evolved through process and unexpected popularity. If we take the words of the aesthete and design critic Stephen Bayley literally when he says “luxury is the anticipation of pleasure” then the Negroni Trunk is a fine expression of this.
The concept of bespoke branded luggage and food and drink baskets has long attracted luxury manufacturers. Rolls-Royce and Bentley have picnic sets. The newest Rolls-Royce champagne box is a bespoke product with design elements borrowed from the automotive and nautical worlds. Wrapped in black leather, the modest box unfolds theatrically to reveal a luminous chest that houses mouth-blown glass flutes (arranged to evoke the V12 engine), refrigerated boxes for caviar, while the outer lid functions as a serving tray. sensitive made of Tudor oak wood. . and laser cut stainless metal inlays.
The Negroni Trunk is a much more private project. The concept originated in a Florentine bar, in the city where the Negroni is said to have been created, also by chance, through a tally of organized crime about a hundred years ago. New York-based Matt Hranek, discoverer / editor of the men’s lifestyle magazine WM Brown Project, was in Italy to celebrate the publication of its first issue. The Negroni drinker confessed, he had come across a company that made whiskey and champagne trunks in Morocco that used saddle leather and found it captivating to interpret the case with tweed fabric to involve key ingredients to make the Negroni cocktail.
His concept is that of a “robust but elegant” case that he introduced to the phone. Either we focus on a hobby for cars and Negronis; mine led to The Life Negroni, an e-book totally committed to the global (real and imaginary) that surrounds the cocktail. “I was wondering why not make a trunk out of tweed,” he continues, “the kind of case that you would just put in the back of your Land Rover without feeling too valuable for it, but tweed makes it pretty. fashionable to keep it in your workplace or at home. “
Hranek reached out to Douglas Cordeaux, a friend and CEO of Fox Brothers. The English-born textile manufacturer has been weaving some of the best woolen fabrics from its base in the south-west of the country, Somerset since 1772. “I asked him if he had any red-net tweeds that I could use to build this prototype and he advised to make a tweed encouraged by Negroni, ”he recalls.
Aged Negroni is a delicious and fatal concoction involving equivalent measures of gin, red vermouth, and a bitter alcohol (most commonly the bright red Campari), combined with ice and topped with an orange slice or sliver. The cocktail color is a deep deep red shade. “I sent in some photos of my favorite Negroni density and Douglas made a tweed prototype.” Hranek then showed the cloth to some friends and “they went crazy,” he told himself. “Negroni tweed is quite a daring fabric and other people have started making full cuts and blazers, even coats with it.
Then came the manufacture of the safe here. The initial Moroccan business didn’t quite work out, so Hranek reached out to Tanner Krolle, the luxury leather goods logo with a long history of making trunks for Aston Martin, as well as others like Sir Sterling Moss, Jackie. . Onassis, Cary Grant and Princess. Dianna. “They enjoyed the Negroni Trunk concept and agreed to collaborate,” he says. “A big component of their logo heritage is this beautiful horsehair that is woven into the fabric and is matte and durable without feeling too tweed or fuzzy. We have covered it with saturated red suede so that when you open the chest there is an explosion of color. For a complete touch, Hranek has teamed up with French Baccarat crystal to create exclusive glasses for its Negroni chest. And a prototype case was born.
Negroni trunks are made to order and customized and manufactured by hand in Italy. “The reaction has been with other people who like the idea, but they are unreasonable to create because of the curtains and the time it takes to create them. My dream is to make a limited run and decrease the burden so more people can enjoy it,” he says, adding with a smile,” so it’s not like investing in a car.”
I ask Hranek if he plans to use Negroni Trunk derivatives, such as a mini bag or backpack for cyclists or hikers. He says he played with a concept for a padded canvas bag containing 3 bottle sections, but admits that the car concept has more appeal. “The Negroni trunk is more productive and fits into the trunk of a car because it is not light. Once packed with bottles, glasses and bar items, it’s like a forged bag.
We are speaking very much in the height of New York and London’s coronavirus lockdown, so the mere idea of travel and road trips could not be more exotic. Since neither of us advocate drinking and driving, I’m intrigued to know how Hranek imagines the Negroni Trunk being used. “It is perfect for your sundowner, or a weekend away fly-fishing with a picnic by the lake. It is an elegant exchange, don’t you think? I love things that are dedicated to purpose.”
I ask of his ideal Negroni Trunk wheels. “I’m a big Land Rover fan,” he replies. “The fantasy would be to pair the trunk with a vintage Series II Land Rover, but equally it will suite the new Defender. What could be better than a four-wheel-drive through the wilderness, then at the end of the day pulling out an elegant Negroni Trunk with a bucket full of ice and mixing up a cocktail,” he says adding amusingly, “Looking ahead, I see a full Negroni objet world domination. You know, the project really started off as a big folly, but has been a really interesting one to develop.”
See the Rolls-Royce Champagne Chest, Marc Newson’s bespoke Ferrari luggage collection for Ferrari and read why car brands can benefit from collaborating with creatives from outside the auto world. Follow the link in my bio to see The Life Negroni.
I explore the links between design, innovation and customer culture. For twenty years, my writing has appeared in foreign media Forbes Lifestyle and W
I explore the links between design, innovation and consumer culture. For some twenty years my writing has featured in international media including Forbes Lifestyle and Wallpaper*. I author lifestyle books, run Design Talks and act as a forecaster and brand consultant at Spinach Branding.