Shipboard Style illustrates the journey of British designer, Colin Anderson who, from the mid-1930s completely transformed the experience of travelling by liner. Using some of the leading artists, designers and architects of the time, including McKnight Kauffer, Marion Dorn, Barbara Jones, Edward Bawden, Ernest Race, Brian O'Rorke and Hugh Casson; he changed the interiors of the Orient Line's ships from floating ornate Highland mansions to functional and attractive transporters of people, whether for work or for leisure.

Anderson went on to become a major patron of the arts on land, as well as at sea, being the first Provost of the Royal College of Art, the Chairman of the Tate Gallery Trustees, the Chairman of the Contemporary Art Society and a member of the Design Council, amongst a myriad of similar positions.