Alviero Martini, as tradition would have it, grew out of a completely chance intuition. It was 1987, and during a visit to Moscow, the designer of the same name bought a map of the world, a little faded and yellowed by time. Returning to Rome, he decided to decorate a suitcase with it. The result pleased him so much that he created a line of bags and luggage using the map theme. Thus began Alviero Martini Prima Classe in 1990. Worldwide success followed immediately; the American press, very taken with the concept, gave it a lot of space, renaming Alviero Martini "the Travel Designer".