On the Britannic Explorer, Belmond’s new luxury night train, the historic Venetian manufacturer Rubelli meets the poetic aesthetic of Luke Edward Hall. The result? A moving textile landscape, where art, craftsmanship, and travel intertwine, along the tracks and in emotions.
There is an idea of travel that is not just about movement, but about transformation. This is what takes shape aboard the Britannic Explorer, Britain’s most anticipated luxury night train, designed by Belmond, which crosses England and Wales. It is here, aboard this tribute to Britain’s railway heritage, that Rubelli’s textile tradition meets the poetic imagination of Luke Edward Hall, giving life to interiors suspended between dream, memory and landscape.
In one of the suites, the walls have been covered with a bespoke version designed by Luke Edward Hall of Rubelli’s playful Diamond Stripe lampas. © Rubelli 2026
Rubelli’s stylized Spiga pattern interpreted by Luke Edward Hall for one of the suites on the Britannic Explorer. © Rubelli 2026
On the one hand, Rubelli: a history rooted in 18th-century Venice, a city of looms, precious weaves, and a culture of textiles understood as a language. It is no coincidence that its fabrics furnish luxurious homes all over the world, the homes of the powerful, the most famous theaters, churches and basilicas, the most exclusive hotels and yachts. On the other, Luke Edward Hall, an English artist, designer, and journalist known for his multifaceted spirit and dreamlike aesthetic inspired by distant eras. His unmistakable style enables him to translate classical references, personal mythologies, and contemporary romanticism into free, cultured, and vibrant expressions. The dialogue between Rubelli and Hall is not a simple collaboration, but a meeting of visions: craftsmanship and imagination, discipline and instinct. Under the creative direction of London-based studio Albion Nord, the interiors of Belmond’s Britannic Explorer are thus transformed into a narrative microcosm.
Custom wall version of Rubelli’s Rousham fabric, enriched with sketches by Hall, reproducing various places and subjects encountered by the Britannic Explorer. © Rubelli 2026
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Of course, calling it a “train” doesn’t do it justice: its eight carriages, transformed into elegant retreats for just 36 guests, effectively make it a hotel on tracks that, with its suites, celebrates the great return of rail travel as an immersive experience. Traversing the British countryside, from historic homes to the wildest landscapes, it invites guests to rediscover the luxury of slower pace and admire the views that have inspired poets, painters, and travelers for centuries. The exterior is mirrored within: each space born from the collaboration between Rubelli and Luke Edward Hall evokes the peace and harmony of a vibrant English country house, punctuated by wool and linen fabrics and muted hues inspired by the fields, forests, and coastlines that flow by outside the window.
In these photos, different color variations of the custom wall version of Rubelli’s Rousham fabric, enriched by sketches created by Hall. © Rubelli 2026
For this exclusive project, Rubelli and Hall have created a series of bespoke fabrics designed to interact with the soul of the train. Originally meticulously sketched by hand, all of Hall’s drawings were then transformed into digital motifs by Rubelli’s team of experts, who then began the complex weaving process, translating the art into textures and material surfaces. A delicate, almost alchemical passage, in which the artist’s gesture becomes structure, rhythm, and tactile narrative.
All of Hall’s hand-drawn designs were transformed into digital patterns by Rubelli’s team of experts, who then began the complex weaving process. © Rubelli 2026
In the guest suites, the walls are covered in a custom version of the Diamond Stripe lampas from the “Return to Arcadia” collection. For the Britannic Explorer, the fabric has been chromatically reworked with the introduction of a deep red, capable of infusing the interiors with a theatrical vitality, between pomp and intimacy. In other rooms, a custom version of the Rousham fabric appears, enriched by sketches and illustrations created by the artist, which reproduce places and suggestions encountered along the journey. The fantasies thus become a repertoire of poetic symbols, an emotional map of the British landscape: seagulls and sandcastles, sailing boats and the Welsh dragon, the blooms of the counties, the bridges of Somerset, the castles of Hampshire…
The Diamond Stripe striped lampas has been chromatically adapted for the Britannic Explorer with the introduction of a theatrical red. © Rubelli 2026
One of Rubelli’s historic striped shirts, played by Luke Edward Hall. © Rubelli 2026
It’s not a nostalgic homage to the past, but a vision of travel as a total sensory experience, where design doesn’t just decorate, but rather accompanies and interprets the journey, making a unique train that passes not just through landscapes, but through souls and imaginations. So, as the Britannic Explorer glides through the countryside, cliffs, and villages, Rubelli’s fabrics and Luke Edward Hall’s designs transform each carriage into a story to be lived in, on a journey that unfolds station after station, plot after plot, emotion after emotion.
On the cover, a glimpse of the refined, romantic and imaginative interiors of Belmond’s luxurious Britannic Explorer night train, born from the collaboration between Rubelli and Luke Edward Hall. © Rubelli 2026
