Romance of travel

inRoads

315 Outram Road, #05-04, Tan Boon Liat Building tel: 6223 0553

Hours: Tuesdays to Sundays, 11am to 7pm, closed on Mondays

BACK in the day when travel was a luxury rather than a necessity, those who could afford to do so packed their belongings not in lightweight Rimowa suitcases, but heavy trunks a la the Titanic.

inRoads hopes to bring back the romance and adventure of travel - albeit not the hazards - through the use of trunks, by adapting them for use as furniture. The store is the brainchild of Rosalind Lim, who runs a luxury jewellery business. inRoads is her "hobby", she says.

Noticing how her friends were constantly travelling, or in some cases moving from one country to another, Ms Lim got the idea to retail furniture that could be considered keepsake pieces, but which its owners could also take with them on their travels.

The store carries pieces by Prizmic and Brill, founded in 1986 by Matthew Sven Brill and Vinko Mario Prizmic. Based in the Philippines, the brand solely makes furniture pieces that have a travel or safari theme to them.

"All the pieces are made to be mobile, just like how things are when one is travelling," says Ms Lim. Many of the pieces look like conventional trunks, but turn out to be much more.

One example is a bed trunk, which retails for $5,990. It looks like a conventional trunk but turns into a coffee table when shut. Undo its catch, and the trunk can become a single bed, or when folded in half, can be used as a two-seater sofa. Elsewhere in the showroom, is a TV console, complete with drawers on the side, which again, when shut, looks like a trunk, albeit a massive one.

There are also chests of drawers that look like trunks, coffee tables with the same look and even a desk, which can be packed away into a compact trunk. Most of the trunks come in a variety of finishings, such as canvas, wicker, or in mock crocodile or snake-embossed leather. "The pieces have a masculine look, so even if they don't work in the living room, they can work well in the den," says Ms Lim.

Prizmic & Brill offers more than trunks, from foldable chairs, to modular sofas and writing desks. There is even a safari tent for sale, should anyone fancy one. Its signature style combines hardwood, hand-forged brass, nickel and leather hides for its pieces.

Ms Lim says that most of the customers are local working professionals in their 30s. "But we get more men than women who are excited about the range," she says. In Asia, Prizmic & Brill pieces can be found in hotels such as The Peninsula in Hong Kong and the Soneva Kiri Six Senses resort in Thailand.

Ms Lim says she came to know of the brand after a friend introduced her to Mr Brill. "I liked the vintage look of the pieces and yet they are still very functional. I'm sure customers do not want white elephants in their home," she says.

With most of the pieces in the form of trunks, Ms Lim adds that when it comes to moving house, it will be a breeze to take the furniture along. "You can tell the movers to just collect the trunks," she quips.

taysc@sph.com.sg