ABSTRACT
In the 1930s, the Orient Line shipping company launched two new vessels—the Orion (1935) and the Orcades II (1937)—whose design, overseen by director Colin Anderson and naval architect Brian O’Rorke, was a groundbreaking showcase of work by the leading modern architects, designers, and artists of the moment. These individuals shaped design reform in Britain. Orient Line’s naval interiors exhibited their latest experiments in avant-garde graphics, carpets, murals, furniture, and more. Modern aesthetics refigured the onboard experience as one of discovery and exposure to a new visual language. Passengers tried out various spaces and styles of modernism throughout the journey, from a machine age café to sleeping quarters with geometric decoration. Orient Line cultivated a consumer base for modern design by making the style an appealing aspect of life and leisure onboard. Subtle signals of British national identity and domesticity in style and format eased the transition to modernism for more apprehensive passengers.
