Custom Excellence by Chelsom

Hospitality and cruise designers are constantly challenged with creating exciting and unexpected interior schemes. Often designers choose to work with BCFA members who can design, develop and manufacture bespoke products.

Chelsom has designed & manufactured fine quality, design-led lighting for the worldwide hotel, marine & leisure marketplace since 1947 and here we bring you three examples of their extraordinary custom lighting schemes.

World’s Largest Cruise Ship

Two days before Harmony Of The Seas, the world’s largest ever cruise ship, left the STX shipyard in St.Nazaire where she was built, the Chelsom team were part of the two thousand contractors still on board putting the finishing touches to the magnificent interiors which would be enjoyed by the six thousand passengers she would carry.

Chelsom were delighted to be involved in the design and manufacture of the majority of the public area lighting, supplying some 600 fittings covering 74 different designs. Chelsom’s marine experience ensured effective ‘marinisation’ of luminaires to cope with the continual movements on board caused by the sea state or vibration. All component parts were modified to be securely fixed and rattle free with sound engineering whilst still retaining the striking visual impact required by the 12 different designers involved.

The areas within which Chelsom worked included the Theatre where they supplied three 3m diameter statement pendants incorporating burlesque style fabric and lace ribbons to give a Moulin Rouge style; Wonderland where an entire ceiling lighting structure was created featuring hundreds of delicate suspended porcelain flowers lit with fibre optics; Central Park where magnificent street lamps housed sound systems inside them, where Jamie’s restaurant featured chandeliers dressed with mouth blown glass balls and Vintages where ceiling fittings and wall lights were gold gilded and dressed with crystal; the Windjammer restaurant where Chelsom created food whisks with tiny LED lights concealed within to illuminate the servery; Sorrento’s with its huge central fitting incorporating illuminated acrylic rods; the Casino with its opulent elliptical crystal chandeliers, each faceted drop being securely fixed and illuminated with LED light sources. Beyond that Chelsom also manufactured lighting for the Diamond Club, the Jazz Club, the Comedy Club, Pub and Teen Lounge.

Chelsom Head of Marine Sales John Hadley said “It’s always amazing to follow a project from its inception two years previously right up to seeing the finished article. It has been an amazing challenge blending the aesthetic and stringent functional requirements of all the parties involved and I am so proud that Chelsom brought so many components of the project together to make it work successfully.

World’s Most Luxurious Cruise Ship

The words cruise and luxury have been inextricably linked since the days when the mighty liners were the preferred mode of transport for traversing the globe. Regent Seven Seas have taken those levels of luxury to new higher standards with their recently launched ship Explorer. Chelsom worked closely with the three design practices involved in the luxurious interiors- RTKL of Miami, Tillberg of Sweden and ICrave of New York- to create the stunning decor schemes which claim to ‘exceed the loftiest expectations for luxury’.

The main lighting focal point is the spectacular chandelier which hangs in the atrium. With a diameter of 3metres and a drop of over 4metres, the chandelier features over 6,000 individual high quality crystal octagon drops, each one attached to a chrome wire frame to prevent movement and vibration when the ship is under way. In the Meridian Lounge a 5.5metre diameter horseshoe chandelier illuminates the dancefloor and surrounding tables. Three tiers of individually mouth blown teardrop glasses are illuminated from above with LED light sources. By contrast, in the Canyon Ranch Spa Club, Chelsom created a spectacular modern lighting feature using polished stainless steel and hand sculpted glass cylinder shades.

Chelsom created a striking chandelier to hang in the decadent stairwell of the luxurious Constellation Theatre which featured hand cut triedri clear glass drops hanging from a polished brass frame.

In the Destination Centre, centred above the opulent sofas, hangs a custom made chandelier dressed with 350 individual rods each containing 5 or 6 mouth blown glass spheres in a mixture of mirrored and clear crystal glass with the light reflected off the highly polished metal frame.

New York’s Hippest New Hotel

Chelsom worked closely with Martin Brudnizki Design Studio and the Cardy Group to create a stunning custom designed lighting scheme for the guestrooms and suites of one of New York’s coolest new hotel openings, Thompson Hotels The Beekman.

The scheme was completely individual  in its entirety as to be expected from MBDS and the lighting pieces designed for the project were no exception. Key pieces included Art Deco themed bespoke ceiling pendants in antique brass and frosted glass with laser cut detailing for the entrance lobbies to the suites, in addition to stunning mouth-blown smoke glass chandeliers which adorned all the guestrooms and suites.  Bespoke orb ceramic table lamps in an olive green crackled finish complete with decorative collar were specified for the bedside along with a kitsch foo dog table lamp in imperial blue.

The lighting scheme was further supplemented by the addition of a striking desk lamp and the guestroom lighting scheme was completed by two floor lamps; the first being a fantastic metal fitting finished in matt black with a decorative wooden handle, teamed with a peacock blue French drum shade lined in gold to give a warm ambient light. The second piece was a retro feel angle poised metal floor standard with a solid marble base and brass detailing finished with a coloured can shaped head.

A duo of vintage inspired chrome wall sconces positioned either side of a centrepiece mirror adorn all bathrooms.