It is Escapes month here at Apartment Therapy, but we all know that one of the most daunting aspects of going on vacation--or anywhere by plane, for that matter--is the airport. Unfortunately, the greater part of this last decade has been met with heightened security measures that often translate to the traveler into inconvenient policies and hyper-sensitivity to things like 4 oz. bottles of liquid and, say, shoes. But these suitcases are here to infuse our travel with a bit of much needed humor and fun.
Sonia Verguet, or PinkWolf, from St. Claude, France, has hand restored vintage suitcases. Displaying a fantastic sense of dark humor, she has added the relief of a weapon to each case. Sure to raise the hair on the necks of airport security, we think these are a fantastic reminder that even the most treacherous part of an escape can still be fun. While we won't make light of actual weapons on planes, perhaps this can be a reminder that we ought not take ourselves too seriously all of the time.
Each suitcase is different, but range from €100.00-€120.00, and are available here.
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I can't help but think these are a terrible idea. Sort of like those t-shirts that are supposed to make it look like you've got a gun tucked in your waistband.
Not a fan. Not sure what's so humorous about a handgun.
I rarely (if ever) take myself too seriously.
for those of us that lost loved ones on 9/11 these are in extremely poor taste.
I wonder if the people who designed it tried to spend 5 hours being interrogated by airport security ?
Being a frequent traveler, I would suggest never trying to take this through airport security. Most TSA Agents find no humor in things like this. If you create unease or panic in an airport you will be quickly removed and not allowed to fly.
I understand why these could be funny, but I'm not amused.
My humor leans toward the sarcastic dark side, but these are really not funny any more.
That's in terribly poor taste.
Ick!!!! These are horrible!
Okay, I worked as a recovery worker after 9/11 and saw more harrowing things then you can possibly imagine. It was traumatic, and I'm still not over it. I finally left NYC because I could not stand the memories.
However, I think the current Hitler Youth approach at America's airports is far from the answer. The TSA are a bunch of poorly educated functionaries forcing ordinary citizens through humiliating rituals.
I think the outline of an ax in a suitcase is actually funny. It's something like a Hitchcock joke. If I could afford one of these suitcases, I'd buy one, and take the TSA on.
For heaven sake's, I almost didn't make a plane because I had forgotten a sample size tube of lotion in my purse. On another occasion, my sister was sent back because she uses her middle name professionally, and there was an initial before her middle name on her driver's license. Another sister's luggage was completely taken apart, dumped, and searched because she had the nerve to attempt to transport two antique sterling serving forks. We're all middle-aged and beyond ladies. Do the homeland security people use any form of common sense?
Less homeland security, more economic security. Less foreign wars, corporate exploitation of foreign resources, and more friendly aid projects. Less calling Muslims "fundamental Islamists" and more interchurch overtures. Hey, I'm no babe in the woods about terrorism. I've seen it and helped the survivors. But these crazy beliefs and phobias are just that.
Falling and laughing about it after, is not taking yourself too seriously.
pretending to take a weapon (even if it is a look-alike) on a plane, is just stupid.
I like em.. but taking these on an airplane is like being the ass hat that makes the bomb joke in line.
Looks like a good way to get you in trouble at the airport and detained for hours.
Today, I walked into a bank, waited in line, and when I got to the teller window I handed her a note that read "I have a gun and I will kill you if you don't put all the money in a bag and hand it to me". I glared ominously at her while she read it. When she looked up at me, her eyes quivering, I said "I'm serious. I will kill every mother-fucker in the bank if you try anything".
What? It was just a joke! We should not take ourselves so seriously! It's almost as funny as the time I went to a pediatric cancer ward dressed as a doctor and told all the patients that their diseases had taken a turn for the worst and they would be dead by nightfall, and that their parents were too busy to come and visit them. It was funny!
wow, you guys are taking these too seriously. It is not in poor taste to 9/11 victims and families... It is a commentary on the draconian methods TSA is taking in the name of increased security. Had these been made to show box knives instead... then yes poor taste to 9/11 victims.
Would these buy you some extra time with TSA? yea, probably. Would I travel via air with one as carry on? no. Do I support the freedom for someone else to? Absolutely.
I'm so glad most people who've commented aren't feeling this. Security measures are a pain yes, but I'm not sure that pain merits outright mockery. I feel like the NRA should be ordering these by the 1000s...
cupajo, bad example. Those are actual threats. This luggage is obviously not suggesting that the actual items are contained within.
I really like these. Mostly as installation work or cheeky stuff for my own personal use. I might take it to a weekend road trip to Montreal.
I like offensive things. I have a dark sense of humour.
But I'm with everyone else: never would I take this to an airport, much less on a plane. That's just a bad idea all around.
I feel I should clarify that I think these are kinda neat, just really, REALLY stupid to carry in today's world. The TSA has already proven itself perfectly willing to detain and harass a woman over nipple piercings. Imagine what it would do about these.
It's a pity that this kind of thing would get you into so much trouble, but only a fool would carry them.
keltick, wrong. That's exactly what they're doing. If you're a TSA agent and you see a suitcase with the (very obvious) shape of a revolver on it, what's going to be your first thought? "Oh, this guy is making an ironic statement about a society obsessed with security. It's kitschy! It's fun!" Or will your first thought be "Shit, now I have to open up this fool's suitcase and make everybody in line behind him pissed off."
It's pointless and stupid and anyone who feels otherwise is the same.
I have to agree that making a fashion accessory out of a gun is in incredibly poor taste.
I also think that taking one of these on an airplane is asking for trouble.
I'll pass on any design that makes another person's heart jump in fear.
Also, "draconian methods?" Are you kidding? Am I the only one that has simply followed the carry-on guidelines and suffered no inconvenience? I understand that taking your shoes off is irritating, and there have been some isolated incidences of security employees being real jerks... but until I'm being frisked and interrogated before I board an airplane, I'm not calling anything draconian.
2 words... NOT FUNNY!
The gun/knife thing isn't very funny imo.
Now, if they made it look like you had a full sized shampoo bottle, that might be kind of funny :)
I don't mind them from a taste standpoint. And I don't think anyone is going to really think that it's a real axe. But among my goals at the airport is to get through everything as quickly and straightforwardly as I possibly can with a minimum of fuss.
That luggage is not going to help me accomplish that goal.
OK, here's a question for everyone that thinks this is OK. Would an outline of a boxcutter and a copy of the Torah be funny too?
Several years ago, I was at the grocery store and I saw a kid (probably 16 or 17) with at least 20 piercings on his face. He had his haired dyed several colors and spiked up and big patches of dark make-up around his eyes. I met him face to face as I turned a corner and it caught me off-guard. I stared at him, sort of slack-jawed for a second or two. I didn't intend to. It was involuntary. He got upset, looked like he was about to cry, and said "What are you staring at?" I thought for a second and said "Well, you. That's what you wanted when you went out of the house like that. You wanted people to be startled and stare at you. You got exactly what you were after." It was obvious that he was fishing for a negative reaction of some sort.
People who would carry this suitcase into an airport are exactly the same. They're fishing for a negative reaction and they will usually get one, and then they will act incredibly incensed and put-out when they do. It's childish.
Good idea, not the best execution. I found the following recycled luggage (including train cases) on esty.com a few weeks ago
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5953420
- a much better update for old luggage IMHO, even if my favorite piece is now gone. I hated my mom's old white train case for years but now I'm planning to get my hands on it for a little update and use it as funky storage in my no storage bathroom.
"Would I travel via air with one as carry on? no. Do I support the freedom for someone else to? Absolutely." ~~keltick
It has nothing to do with someone's freedom. It has to do with common decency. I'm not saying these suitcases should be illegal, but anyone with even a measure of good taste and common sense wouldn't carry them. There's nothing illegal about my 'dressing up as a doctor and lying to sick kids' example, either. But it's in very poor taste and serves no purpose other than to upset someone.
There's nothing funny about these. Surely a suitcase can be designed in a way that makes fun of annoying airport security without using violent imagery and referencing terrorism.
Has anyone looked at the website? These suitcases are actually being sold on a site named www.designforkids.com.
Mind-boggling.
Oh so totally tasteless, stupid and not funny.
And beyond the tastelessness of the weapon images, even if these were *nice* suitcases, I would say the hell with fun, I want *wheels*.
A few more thoughts. I never find guns funny or amusing. So I doubt that I would buy that suitcase. But the outline of the hatchet in the suitcase is amusing.
If you can't find it funny, you're never going to laugh at a Hitchcock walk-on again. And you're spiritually poorer for it.
One deranged person tried to set off a bomb from his shoe and was unsuccessful.
As a consequece, hundreds of millions of people have to take off their shoes and let airport security inspect them. I'd call that an overreaction. It's almost like an old Get Smart episode.
Sooner or later, Americans are going to tire of this level of surveillance and insist on something a little more sophisticated, cost-effective, and stream-lined, and TSA will adapt. We have crying needs, like people living in tent cities with no sanitation. Searching Mr., Ms., and Mrs. America for shoe bombs is not the answer to anything, including terrorism.
It's obviously a very provocative joke by the French designer who makes these suitcases. But it's a JOKE. It's not the same as verbal joking references in airports to bombs or guns, because all some people can hear over the din are the words "bomb" or "gun." You'd have to be insane to carry a suitcase with an outline of a gun into an airport. There's been too many random mass shootings. But a suitcase with an outline of a hatchet? Somebody has to appreciate that there is a line between an ironic joke and a threat. It's hard to get very far with a random mass hatchet attack.
Asinine. And forget just airports. Remember the knife attack on the Greyhound bus?
I don't think this is particularly clever or funny. It's a cheap attempt to be edgy, to shock (though, given the price, maybe cheap isn't quite right). More importantly, it fits into a particular narrative that some contemporary artists like to revive again and again. It seems to be working since people are angrily denouncing it as tasteless while others are rushing to defend freedom of expression. Yawn.
How 'bout I stencil empty beer cans on the backseat of my car and drive around wearing a T-Shirt that looks like I'm wearing a seatbelt?
Perhaps I should leave a backpack in a subway station or lobby of a skyscraper with a ticking clock in it?
Let's spraypaint all the Stop signs in town white and rearrange the street signs in our neighborhood.
Maybe I can pay for all this by putting on my dirty old clothes and begging for money on the street corner.
Gosh - Wasn't that fun, clever and ironic?
I think it's funny but people working in airports don't have much sense of humour. It would make people check through your luggage and question your sanity.
Wow, I didn't expect 95% of the commenters on this article to be humorless "9/11 never forget omg terrorism" sorts.
What's wrong with mocking authority?
HapaxLegomenon, when will you clowns figure out it has nothing to do with 9/11, and it certainly has nothing to do with mocking authority. You pull this crap while I'm standing behind you in line and you will like feel my size 12's up your ass.
You are out of your effing mind.
Nothing's wrong with mocking authority - if your mocking is actually funny. This attempt, dare I say, misfired.
.
Oh god. They may or may not be in poor taste, but I'm quite definitely weeping at the thought of so many vintage suitcases turned into ugly monstrosities.
You can seriously call these "hand restored"? They're not being "restored" to anything like what they once were.
We're all middle-aged and beyond ladies. Do the homeland security people use any form of common sense?
They're not allowed to, AustinSarah. It could be construed as racial profiling.
I agree that these are terrible - there's nothing amusing about hijacking or terrorism. If Verguet was cleverer, she might have produced suitcases with "OMG THERE'S SHAMPOO IN THIS SUITCASE!" or "I HAVE A KORAN IN HERE!" stencilled on the side... mocking the misplaced zeal of airport security rather than the entirely justified measures needed to combat hijackers.
Also...
Would an outline of a boxcutter and a copy of the Torah be funny too?
Yes it would, Cupajo. Perhaps unintentionally, but still pretty funny.
Presumably these terrorists would shout "Oy Vey!" rather than "Allahu Akbar!" before they attack :)
Several years ago, I was at the grocery store and I saw a kid (probably 16 or 17) with at least 20 piercings on his face. He had his haired dyed several colors and spiked up and big patches of dark make-up around his eyes.
Way to make the emo kid cry, Cupajo.
Blandwagon, whoops. Got my holy texts mixed up. That's embarrassing.
wow, no need to bring 9/11 into this. sure, it would be stupid to take this on a plane . . . you'd just be asking for trouble . . . but plenty of people take trips that don't involve air travel. if someone likes driving around with a suitcase that looks like it has an axe in it (the only one i thought was funny, these could benefit from a more cartoon-ish vibe) then why the hell not?
They're not very pretty. May be funny for a split second as a punch line photo on a website, but in an airport they're as funny as that dude who thinks it's funny to scream "He's got a bomb!!!" in a public space. I don't care how subtle or Hitchcockian your sense of humor is, if I have to wait another ten minutes in the security line because of you, I may have to find an actual hatchet and use it on you.
Really, how much fun does one need to infuse into their luggage? Beyond that, these are unattractive and just plain stupid.
@matsayswhat, absolutely hysterical! I just about fell off my chair after reading your comment.
Totally worth repeating...
"Now, if they made it look like you had a full sized shampoo bottle, that might be kind of funny :)"
ha!
Also laughing with @matsayswhat.
I would get a real morale boost out of taking the hatchet sitcase on road trips to visit my harsh and boundary-breaking in-laws. Otherwise, these are not funny enough to be worth the hassle they impose on everyone.