Sometimes, how you get there is what matters. With top UK-based interior designers creating a new standard for planes, trains and yachts, we’re predicting a renaissance for luxury travel.
With his first private jet, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi is taking the concept of quiet luxury to new heights
The founder of architecture and interior-design firm Banda is no stranger to luxury travel. Descended from Italian nobility (he married Princess Beatrice in 2020), Mapelli Mozzi recalls being entreated by his parents to put a shirt and jacket on before journeys as a child. His new project, Banda’s first private jet, is a space that’s also worthy of a dress code. Its design, which translates the lush materiality and subdued palette the firm has come to be known for, is the designer’s way of bringing a moment of calm to the skies.
‘It’s escapism,’ he explains. ‘When you’re in the air, there are no people constantly asking you questions or children hanging off you; a plane is a sanctuary. It’s a moment to say, “Enough. I’m far away from the rest of the world.”’ However, most planes, even the private ones, are not exactly aesthetically serene – a reality Mapelli Mozzi puts down to the number of necessary rules associated with the aviation industry. ‘There are so many regulations, restrictions and challenges that people just go back to working with those who have designed planes before, but our clients wanted something different; something with a sense of softness and elegance.’
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There’s no harsh strip lighting. Instead, an ambient glow is created using bespoke table lamps (which attach to surfaces using magnetic bases, so that they don’t budge during turbulence), while the ceiling and walls are clad in linen to combat the noise and vibrations created by jet engines. Ultra-soft leather features heavily – not just used to upholster the chairs, but also coating tray tables to add that members’-club feel – as does marble. The latter had to be used smartly and sparingly to avoid issues with the balance and stability of the plane.
In a way, this is the ultimate example of small-space ingenuity. ‘Every area of the plane is multi-functional and everything has to have the ability to transform,’ says Mapelli Mozzi, who points to how a large television (ideal for in-air conference calls) can appear from behind the sofa at the touch of a button. All of these elements, from the seating to the fold-out tables, are bespoke.
The trick, he adds, is ensuring it all feels high quality: ‘It’s how smoothly the table unfolds and doesn’t rattle, and that once it’s out, there’s ample space for your phone. The small details like that really matter.’ After all, the atmosphere the designer is aiming to evoke is one akin to the golden age of luxury travel – a time, he says, ‘when people weren’t racing to get somewhere, but enjoying the process of the journey’. bandaproperty.com
Designed by Albion Nord, Belmond’s Britannic Explorer train is scheduled to depart from London this summer
Interior-design firm Albion Nord have developed a reputation for creating residential projects that show respect for heritage, and this is what it is bringing to England and Wales’ first luxury sleeper train. Setting out on its first journey this summer, the Britannic Explorer will head to destinations including Cornwall and the Lake District.
‘Ultimately, Belmond wanted it to be a quintessentially British experience, rather than one that relies on a 1920s, art deco idea of glamorous train travel,’ says Albion Nord director Ben Johnson of the brief for this more quirky take on railway chic.
‘We’re very conscious that, while people are on the train, the focus is also on the landscape they’re moving through. It’s about taking people away from the bustle of the city and into the countryside,’ adds Albion Nord associate Rebecca Floyd. To that end, each of the three grand suites is named after a different British botanical – valerian, juniper and elder – with palettes drawn from these inspirations. The dining car has the feel of a high-end potting shed, painted a bucolic green, with woven-rattan panelling that brings to mind flower-filled trellises, and the powder rooms feature shell mirrors by Mel Campion to evoke the Cornish coastline.
A bespoke fabric was created for the train: a reimagining by Luke Edward Hall of a Rubelli pattern, which weaves in illustrations of historic sites that will be passed, as well as the carriages themselves. ‘It’s like a beautiful sketchbook,’ explains Johnson.
Fabric is integral to Albion Nord’s design, especially in the 18 cabins. They ‘could feel a bit oppressive if you’re not playful and layered in the way you approach upholstery and finishes’, says Floyd. To bring opulence to a confined space, the bedrooms in the grand suites are wrapped in textiles, from the headboards to tented ceilings, while other suites are clad in upholstered panelling. Of course, there were unique practical concerns. Most important is considering the motion of the locomotive. ‘There’s no point in tiling a wall because ultimately it will crack,’ says Johnson, while Floyd points to small details like the slight niche added to the antiqued-brass bedside tables to ensure your glasses won’t fly off at night.
The look may be a modern approach to luxury travel, but the Albion Nord team have allowed themselves some nostalgia. In the embarkation lobby, guests will be met by a clock, beneath which brass letter cards will announce picturesque stops. A letterbox is ready to be filled with personal notes from the journey (penned on branded postcards that can be found in the cabins) and posted by staff along the route – a final nod to the enduring whimsy and romance of train travel. albion-nord.com
Responsibly renovated by Bryan O’Sullivan, this vessel offers an approachable alternative to superyacht style
‘Yacht interiors are often treated differently from residential ones, and I don’t think they should be,’ says interior designer Bryan O’Sullivan. ‘You should be able to walk onboard and instantly feel at home, but instead people tend to go for opulence.’ His latest project was bought secondhand by his clients, who worked with the designer to swap the luxury yacht’s gilded finishes for something ‘more approachable’.
‘I guess we were trying to dial it all down a few notches,’ explains O’Sullivan of the measured approach that saw him retain the original panelling, but replace ornate ceilings with smoother, more contemporary finishes and add modern furniture that acts as a counterpoint to the polished wood. The clients had seen O’Sullivan’s work at Claridge’s (in 2023, he completed a redesign of the London hotel’s restaurant and a series of suites) and wanted to bring some of that vibe with them on their trips – sailing the Caribbean in winter and Mediterranean in the summer.
Key to this was turning what had been a cinema room into a relaxed living space with a bar. ‘It’s perfect for pre-dinner drinks,’ explains the designer, who also transformed a large, state-room-like formal-dining area into more of a ‘hangout space’, with a giant orange ‘Camaleonda’ sofa by Mario Bellini for B&B Italia and a psychedelic rug by The Rug Company. There is still an indoor- dining room (essential, as weather at sea is not always predictable), but it’s a less stuffy experience, located alongside the living area and bar. Throughout, colour and playfulness keep things feeling modern.
From cutting-edge furniture in bright colours to the fabric wallcovering by Dedar in the hallway and stairwell, with its embroidered geometric pattern, the choices are textural and interesting, but never glam in the traditional sense. Many of the pieces were created by O’Sullivan’s studio especially for this project, but some were retained from before his intervention – ‘I guess we always think, “If you don’t need to be wasteful, don’t be wasteful,”’ explains the designer.
One big consideration, he shares, was that 90 per cent of everything onboard has to be secured in place to prevent it moving with the swell when the yacht is at sea. Perhaps the greatest impact of that is on lighting decisions. For this project, the client had a love of mid-century pieces by the likes of FontanaArte – delicate designs that had to be engineered by professional boat-fitting experts with special brackets to make them safe to sail. ‘Sometimes the glass in the lights would rattle,’ recalls O’Sullivan, ‘so we had to figure out ways to avoid that, too.’ Despite these demands, the build never hit choppy waters, with the clients, creatively involved in every step of the process, now overjoyed with their new home-from-home on the waves and its fresh take on nautical design. bryanosullivan.com
