From Brunel’s 1859 steamship Great Eastern to the launch of the QE2 in 1969, Ocean Liners: Speed and Style is the first exhibition to fully explore the design and cultural impact of ocean liners on an international scale—focusing on their promotion, engineering, interior design, and the lifestyle on board.

We worked closely with lead designers Casson Mann to shape a compelling narrative journey, beginning at Dockside and moving through life on board—both above and below deck. With the designers’ use of mirrors, we employed linear lighting to enhance the sense of scale and create depth and volume.

Dropped ceilings were used to delineate period interior spaces, with every detail finely developed to produce a visually striking and cohesive experience.

We created artificial daylight using set-work skylights, abstracted Art Deco bespoke light fittings, and—at the finale—a shimmering pool effect with powerful lensed linear cells beneath an enormous canopy of stars created using our fibre optic design.