Launching this summer, Celia is the British Pullman’s extraordinary new private dining and events carriage.
Designed by visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann and Oscar-winning costume and production designer Catherine Martin, and set within one of The British Pullman, a Belmond Train’s original 1932 Pullman carriage, Celia features its own cocktail bar, lounge, dining and entertainment area, offering up to 12 guests the most intimate and cinematic way to experience Britain’s most storied train, and the chance to create bespoke events and private dining moments.
The carriage is a creative celebration of London’s 1930s West End theatre scene, vintage cinema, and a homage to the wit, humour and romance of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, brought to life through British craftsmanship. Celia is based on the life of a fictional muse conjured up from Luhrmann’s imagination and introduces an exceptional experience for the British Pullman guests.
A Private Dining Room on Rails
Operating as an entirely self-contained private carriage within the train, complete with its own dedicated stewards, Celia is an era-defining chapter for London’s hospitality scene, giving British Pullman guests the rare opportunity to let their imaginations run wild and create their own unique space for celebrations and milestones aboard one of the UK’s most beloved trains.
Celia will depart from London’s Victoria Station across all British Pullman journeys, offering travellers an exclusive entertainment venue, with the opportunity to personalise both their onboard and offboard experiences. Seating up to 12 guests, the carriage, in addition to its dining area, also features a lounge and bar, as well as a pantry and kitchen. On request, a private chef will design customised menus using the finest British seasonal produce.
Celia will serve as a premier venue for grand banquets and intimate celebrations, seamlessly evolving into a theatrical space for performances or a dance floor. The carriage will become the guests’ private stage; from lavish dinners and milestone toasts to bespoke cocktail hours, each moment unfolds like a sequence of scenes from a film.
A Place of Creativity and Imagination
Guided by the artistic vision of Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, Celia embarks guests on a journey into a realm of exquisite elegance, inviting them to imagine their own stories unfolding alongside the carriage’s world of make-believe. Drawing inspiration from the British countryside, Shakespeare and the extravagant and flamboyant flair characteristic of a Baz Luhrmann film set, the design concept of Celia follows the narrative of the Australian director’s fictional muse Celia.
An emblem of playfulness and after-hours mischief, the imagined West End leading lady was gifted her own Pullman car in 1932 in honour of her era-defining performance as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As such, every detail of the carriage weaves together her life story and Shakespeare’s fantastic world, creating a dreamlike cinematic atmosphere.
The Finest British Craftsmanship
A celebration of British craftsmanship, Celia brings together the very best artisans and designers, handpicked by Luhrmann and Martin to conjure up a world of historied theatre and cinema. Layers of romanticism play out throughout the carriage’s literary design narrative, which takes cues from the British landscape, including its flora and fauna.
To create this world, Catherine Martin worked with long-term Belmond collaborators, including marquetry artisans Dunn & Son, leading British bespoke furniture designer Bill Cleyndert, as well as Tony Sandles Bespoke Glass studio, embroiders Hand and Lock, and J.K Interiors. Historic British manufacturer of fine bone China, Duchess China, collaborated with the designer on the tableware look and feel. Catherine Martin has also handpicked British suppliers for the carriage’s food and beverage elements, including David Mellor for the cutlery and Tom Dixon for the glassware.
With choreographed precision, materiality and texture take centre stage throughout the carriage. An elaborate fabric ceiling crowns the space over veneered marquetry and custom timber parquetry, which comes to life through layers of thick velvet upholstered furniture. Floral motifs, a celebration of British flora, decorate the oak-wood marquetry and furnishings set to a colour palette of rich greens, yellows, reds and purples.
Cinematically intimate, the spaces are divided via heavy theatre-style curtains, each unveiling elaborate dreamscapes etched into the carriage’s interiors. A mosaic and hand-painted ceiling and walls make up the separate powder room, decorated in flowers and mystical motifs.