Ubiquitous Design - Globite travel luggage - Bryce

Globite Travel Cases
Bryce Leen
S3135016 - BP195


The brand name Globite was popularised during the early/mid 20th century, due to the popularity of its lunch boxes, mainly with school children. The cases are constructed of cardboard and are covered in a textured plastic coating, which was typically brown in colour. Although not the lunchboxes, my grandparents have in their possession a pair of Globite cases. The two were part of a larger set of cases that were bought in the early 1950’s by my grandparents, Patricia and Vincent, as a set of travel luggage. Originally their main function was to facilitate the move of my grandparents to Vince’s new work posting as a chemical research scientist in the United States, having finished his requirements at the University of W.A for his PhD.
This journey took Pat and Vince, and thus the Globite set, from there home in Perth on a crossing of the Pacific aboard the S.S. Strathnaver. London bound, the ship made a series of stops at ports including Ceylon, India, Egypt and France, before arriving into Tilbury, London 29 days later. Following a short stay in England, the couple continued their journey onward, aboard the Queen Mary from Southampton to New York, at a cost of £59. Later on the same day of their arrival into New York, the pair took an overnight train to their final destination, student housing at the University of Chicago.
By arriving the cases had now fulfilled their initial purpose, allowing the couple to move their possessions cross continent, in order for Vince to further his work career. During the three year appointment at the university, the Globite cases had a changed usage; they were used as storage for items seldom used, or sensitive objects such as photographs and other matter that held importance to the couple. However a few of the cases were used for the purpose of domestic travel during this period.
Following the conclusion of Vince’s work on free radical oxidation reaction studies at the university the couple left Chicago, homeward bound, with two young children in tow. The route home completed a circumnavigation of the world, taking a route via Vancouver, Honolulu, Japan, Hong Kong and Sydney before their destination, Geelong. Vince had acquired a new work position with CSIRO, in the textiles department, which meant a permanent move to Geelong, a great distance from their family homes in Perth.
The two cases still in their possession, a carry case for men’s and women’s suits, as well as a smaller square hat box, reflect the social scene of the time; a period in which women wore hats and gloves, and where it was not only business men who wore suits. It was social etiquette to be dressed well at all times, especially the case when travelling, hence the need for a case such as a hat box. A
Throughout the 1960’s the popularity, and reflected production, of hats decreased dramatically as the acceptability of a women not clad in gloves and a hat rose within society. This change was brought about by the increase in women’s rights activism which had begun to gain momentum in the 1950’s, piggybacking on the revolutionary climate that black civil rights activists had constructed. As society’s perception of ladylike changed the need for hats, and therefore hat boxes declined. Thus it was through this change in women’s rights, and the subsequent follow on of a fashion swing that made the Globite hat box redundant as a piece of travel equipment.
Fashion is not the only thing to have changed since this era; the popular mode of international travel has also undergone a serious transition with the ocean liner being replaced by the aeroplane as the primary mode for international travel, a change that is now mirrored on the domestic front. The Perth to London leg of Pat and Vince’s trip, took them a total of 29 days aboard the S.S. Strathnaver, today this trip can be made in less than 24 hours aboard an airliner. This change has given more people the ability to travel abroad, as they don’t need to take many months at a time off work in order to travel to other parts of the world, this is especially true travelling from Australia.
However if you were to tell someone about to board a 20+ hour flight that they had it easy, with travel taking such little time, I’m sure that they wouldn’t feel that was the case. Such is the way society has become with our ever growing need for instant gratification and results. The grand ease with which we can now make international travel is lost on most.
As planes have replaced the ocean liner as the most effective means of international travel, they have also taken on other roles previously taken by ships. The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, nowadays more commonly referred to as P & O, had massive contracts for the mail route between Britain and its colonies, such as Australia, India, NZ etc. Just as the aeroplane ate up much of the travel market, it also took a portion of the mail contract away from shipping companies such as P & O. As a result they have retargeted their services towards cruises, as a leisure activity rather than having the aim of travel via a boat.
The changes to transport have heralded massive change in luggage also, another reason that the Globite bags Vince and Pat own were made redundant. The change to airliners has meant that the amount of carry on or accessible luggage has declined. On an airliner for instance, one main carry on much more than they need, however the basic requirements are minute when compared to the amount of accessible luggage needed on a cross Atlantic/Pacific ocean liner. This change has heralded the birth of cases which conform to airline carry on luggage size specifications, with many people travelling with this their only case. The only downside of this change is the cost incurred if large amounts of articles need to be transported, which would not have been anywhere near as much of an issue aboard an ocean liner.
As social changes mounted, the cases were not made completely redundant; rather my grandparents adapted their usage. Just as they were in Chicago after the move, the cases are now used as storage devices. The larger of the two, the suit carrying case, is used to store the plastic Christmas tree, and appropriate festive decorations. The smaller case also has a similar job; however it contains pictures and slides of the family and their outings. As such it is trusted with the important job of protecting the memories of times past, thus providing a crucial task which gives us the ability to easily reflect on past times.
Now that the cases have being resigned to mere storage containers, trusted with nothing more than keeping the dust at bay, there value has declined. Originally they had both monetary value, as well as social value; in that it represented the couple in a certain light, having travel cases portrayed them as well off. At present they hold little monetary value, unlike their lunchbox cousins, which can be found as a much collectable item in auction houses, and on websites such as Ebay. However they are kept as they do perform a certain utilitarian function for which they perfectly suited. Given this one could easily glance over them in the attic, assuming them to be merely old dusty cases, without acknowledging the long and rich associated with them.