The Art of Travel

We are proud to introduce you to some of our skilled artisans that help design, maintain and restore the beautiful interiors of our carriages. Their attention to detail, expertise and passion for their trade is unsurpassed. We have recently commissioned Aimee Harman to design, create and install five new mosaic floors for our cloakrooms.

Aimee Harman lives in Peacehaven East Sussex, and has 3 grown up children and 3 grandchildren. She learnt to mosaic in 1997, after going to an evening class with her young daughter to try a new interest. She very quickly found her own technique to sculpt the tiles into shapes rather than the traditional squares, and to include other elements into her work adding interest and a story to each piece. This hobby soon became a passion and very quickly a new profession. She wrote to her council, offering to mosaic the centre of a very busy roundabout for free thus creating a giant business card on the A259 for all to see and boy did it work! 

 The press coverage for the roundabout, led to a meeting with the then Orient-Express Train Manager and Aimee found herself swapping roads for rail. Her first task was to restore the mosaic lavatory floors made years before by the late Marjorie Knowles and more work swiftly followed. The Northern Belle tasked Aimee to create new cloakroom floors, each one to represent a castle or stately home in Britain. So far you can view Harlech and Warwick, with the remaining floors to be continued next year. Each floor is a labour of love and takes months to complete. We will be reporting on Aimee’s progress in our future newsletters.

Aimee’s talent doesn't end there as we have also commissioned Aimee to create a beautiful range of jewellery for our boutique called “The Grateful Mosaic.” Each piece is completely unique and uses the same techniques as on our Mosaic floors. These will soon be available to purchase either onboard or online. 

Aimee provides an insight into her work below: -

 “My inspiration is mainly from Gustav Klimts work, and living near the sea. I love making my jewellery, as it’s like looking at a cluster of gems inside a rock pool. I use Italian Millefiori and fuse glass in a kiln that belonged to my late husband Mark. He used to help me with the floors on Belmond, and The Northern Belle. There is something very magical that happens when I mosaic, it takes me to a place away from the world and any worries I may be having. It’s like a meditation with your eyes open. “