Domus: Crowning Glory

Founded in 2002 by Vivian Imerman, the South African tycoon who is probably best known for turning around the fortunes of the Delmonte fruit-juice group, Earlcrown is a luxury project management and design house that works on some of the world’s most exclusive private residences. His daughter Bianca Ladow started as CEO of the company six years ago and has project managed and designed many interiors since, including the interiors of three Mangusta yachts. The company is now moving towards the larger end of the superyacht design industry. SuperyachtDesign caught up with Ladow to learn more about Earlcrown and the projects it has worked on.

As a company, Earlcrown is a bit of a property powerhouse. At any one time, it is working with up to 60 professionals, including everyone from in-house directors and staff to architects, interior designers and contractors. It specialises in presenting clients with property that is fully dressed and furnished so that whether the client is planning on moving straight in or selling it, everything is ready to go.

While Ladow is the CEO, she is still extremely hands-on and works closely alongside the project manager on the management and design of projects. For her, the key to Earlcrown’s appeal is its stylistic flexibility. With a team of in-house interior designers ensuring quality consistency and design standards across all the projects, they still draw upon different design styles in order to keep things fresh. “We like to keep each project unique and so working with the latest designers and trends is key,” she tells us.



The first project that Ladow worked on was a house in Belgravia’s Eaton Square, London. “It was a magnificent house with an illustrious history,” she remembers. “Times and designs have changed since then though and property we are now working on has a much more neutral pallet, more discrete yet still as ambassadorial and grand.”

Since then, she has been involved on everything from a bachelor pads in Mayfair to period town houses. One especially interesting project was the renovation of a property on London’s Avenue Road, where the team demolished the original outdated structure and built a new Georgian-style mansion in its place. The project required them to excavate down to a depth of nine metres to create a multi-level basement leisure complex, with a spa featuring a platinum mosaic and Swarovski crystal detailing, black granite floor and wall tiles and silver polished plasterwork as well as an indoor swimming pool, private gymnasium with polished timber oak flooring, treatment room and private cinema.



As well as its varied residential portfolio, Earlcrown has worked on three Mangusta yachts. The most recent project was the interior of a 39m. “This is the third Mangusta yacht we have worked on,” Ladow tells us. “For us, they are a bit like the sports car of the yachting world. Fast, sleek and beautiful.”

Earlcrown worked alongside Overmarine to create all the bespoke interiors, featuring neutral tones, various textures and materials and accents with animal prints. For Ladow, understanding the confined space and reduction in ceiling height was key in order to make the most out of the limited light and space. “We used colours, textures and mirrors can enhance the light and ultimately increase the feeling of space,” she says. “We always spend an agonising amount of time understanding how the house or yacht will work, the flow and use of the rooms. Getting this right is key. Once you have a true understanding of that it most of the critical challenges arise and can be dealt with early on.”



As Ladow admits, designing the interior of a yacht presents different challenges to a designer than a land-based project, but does she think that there is a place for land-based designers in yachting? “There is definitely a place for land based designers in the nautical world,” she says. “We have found that there is so much both sides can learn from each other. When we have sat with a yacht builder both sides have come out of the meetings having learned something.”

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