Interior design
the deep blue Immersed in
Hotel interior design encourages luxurious experience alongside the thoughtful use of materials. Buoyed by the desires of its clientele, cruise operators are beginning to do the same. Andrea Valentino talks to Sebastien Flamant of Flamant Interior Design and Malvina Guarnieri at Tilberg Design of Sweden about how cruise ship design is being shaped by onshore hospitality, the obstacles of regulation, and how cruises could look years from now.
ost cruisers these days do not know Albert Ballin. But without him, the modern industry would be inconceivable. It was this German shipping magnate who first developed the concept of the ‘floating hotel’ – the idea that, in their dizzy extravagance, ships could be just as alluring as their landlocked cousins. Ballin, moreover, was a man who practiced what he preached. In the heyday of his power, around the turn of the 20th century, he shaped his ships into places of paradise, hiring renowned designers and installing rococo stairwells in his ballrooms. Ballin’s Augusta Victoria, launched in 1888. It even boasted a reception court, choked by a forest of soaring palms.
M
If cruise ships began the 20th century as artistic masterpieces, they finished with a little less grandeur. With traveller demographics changing – as seafaring aristocrats were replaced by less discerning package tourists – ship design changed too. Combine this with stricter fire regulations and it is easy to see why wood- panelled ballrooms and rococo stairwells disappeared from cruise interiors. In their place came linoleum floors and fake gold bathroom taps. As one insider noted of the 1970s, cruise ships were no longer stages for ‘high-society drama’, but modest vacation spots open to all. This era of the cruise ship is represented in US shows like The Love Boat, a 1980s TV drama featuring bawdy romances and canned laughter.
20
World Cruise Industry Review /
www.worldcruiseindustryreview.com
Ponant Ponant
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65
