Glamorous Travel : Furniture Designs of the 1969 QEII

In 1969 the British cruise liner QE2 embarked on its maiden voyage. Its interior was fit for a fashion icon like Mary Quant, with bold forms and pops of colour to create the essential travel environment for its globe trotting passengers.

The late 1960s was an age of glamorous traveling and a time in design history which celebrated sculptural, colourful forms created by Danish designer Verner Panton and the Eames couple in the US. Film makers like Stanley Kubrick also played a part in the style transformation with his film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Around the world the appetite for playful and adventurous design objects was being picked up by designers creating the interiors of the ships and planes bound for brighter shores.

At the time, the QE2 was the most famous ship in the world and it presented an enormous opportunity for designers of the time including Harry Bertoia, William Plunkett, Robert Heritage and Michael Inchbald whose designs were selected for the bars and public spaces throughout the ship. The furniture was customised to the colour scheme of the ship – pinks, oranges and greens fitted the fashion for clean, bright hues and mixed perfectly with the chrome detailing throughout the ship.

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Harry Bertoia

Diamond Chair and Ottoman, QE2

Lending a sense of iconic, international polish to the interior, the Diamond Chair by Harry was upholstered in orange with matching ottomans and pop era coffee tables. At each arched junction of the passageway, the addition of climbing plants added texture and emphasised the organic shapes of the space with dark leafy tendrills winding around the bright furniture.